


They Made Us

by 96enox



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pathcode Teasers, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mentions of Kris and Tao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2019-10-02 16:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 79,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17267138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/96enox/pseuds/96enox
Summary: They have powers and they don't know why. They get thrown out into the real world just to be dragged back for more tests and more training. The worst part is that they can't remember anything. At least most of them can't.





	1. Arizona, 17:11

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story in 2016 and never did anything with it because it never felt done. This year I've set myself the goal of posting stuff for a year and this is a story I keep going back to.  
> So I know this is in no way perfection and there's a whole set of chapters in the middle that needs to be written, because I felt like there was a chunk missing. But apparently I can't let this go.  
> So here we go, Internet.

**PART 1: TEST SUBJECTS 1 TO 99**

**Arizona, 17:11**

The air is cool, flowing through browning grass. In the center of a large field, the breeze catches the dark red hair of a man. Gasping, the man’s eyes open, a blue tinge on the edges of his pupils fading away.

Dressed in a teal trench coat, the tall man pulls a hat off his face. He has to squint a bit. Blinking up at the cloudless sky, he wonders where he is. Until the sound of a female voice gets him to look to his right. Unsure of himself, he sits up.

Nothing hurts.

The coat he’s wearing has no rips or tears. For all intensive purposes, he seems fine. Other than the fact that there is nothing going on in his head. He can hear the sounds of a forest behind him, he can feel the air around him, but something is _off_.

“Chanyeol!” the voice calls again.

He tips his head at the name. It seems familiar.

“Chanyeol!”

The man looks around. The sun glares off what could be a lake. In the distance, he can make out a house. Possibly his?

A woman is running towards him. Her skirt flies around her as she moves towards him, crossing the field’s distance in very little time. The skin of her hands is rough, but her touch is gentle, as she cups his cheeks.

“Chanyeol.”

So that _is_ his name.

“Chanyeol-ah, are you okay?”

He blinks at her. Is he supposed to know her?

“ _God, of course, it happened again_ ,” he believes she mutters. Except the language is different. When she speaks again, she’s pulling him to his feet. “Come on, Yeol-ah. We’ll get some food in you. It’s almost dinner and you’ve… been out here all day.”

“Have I?” he asks. Chanyeol’s throat feels a little bit scratchy, as if he hasn’t used it all day. Or more than a day. When he runs his tongue along his bottom lip, he realizes how chapped it is. He’s dressed in nice clothes, but his insides feel as if they haven’t seen food or water in ages.

She nods. “You came out to check on the horses this morning. I haven’t seen you since.”

A glint in her eye catches Chanyeol’s attention, but it’s so brief he isn’t sure if he imagined it.

“Do you remember my name, Chanyeol-ah?” the woman asks as she guides him by the elbow to the house. Her arm is looped comfortably through his. The touch isn’t foreign, so Chanyeol concludes they’ve done this often.

“I know it,” he promises.

She tilts her face up to him. Chanyeol notices the freckles that dot the middle line along her face, across her nose, spattering on her cheeks. He thinks they’re beautiful, that they look like constellations.

“Nayeon,” he states after racking his brain the entire walk to the house he’d seen.

A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. “Good. I would be offended if you forgot me, Yeol-ah.”

Chanyeol believes her, but as they step inside, he isn’t sure what she means to him. There’s no ring on his left hand, so they aren’t married. He thinks she’s beautiful, but that may just come from initial infatuation.

Nayeon’s hair would reach her waist if she let it out of its ponytail. It’s black and naturally wavy. Her skin is flawless, but her hands are rough, most likely from some sort of hard labour. Given they seem to be on farmland, hard labour must come with the territory.

“Do you love me, Chanyeol-ah?” she asks. Nayeon has pushed him into a chair and his muscles sigh in relief. Then she moves towards the stove where a large pot of soup is waiting.

“Of course I do,” he replies without hesitation. The answer surprises him.

Nayeon glances back at him, an amused smile on her features. “Glad to know you remember that.”

“Do you know something I don’t?”

“This happens a lot with you, Yeol,” she answers. A steaming bowl of soup is set down in front of him. “Do you know where you are?”

“I think I’m home,” he says. The house is small. From what he can see, it looks as if there are only two other doors. One must go to the bathroom, the other to the bedroom. They’d walked through, what Chanyeol assumes, is the living room into the kitchen. The dining table he’s sitting at feels familiar and he can’t stop running his left hand over the grain.

“Home,” Nayeon repeats. “You live with me. Do you know where we are in the world?”

“The world?”

Next to the table, there’s a large window. It looks out into the empty field, mountains and hills creating a picturesque view. When they’d walked through the front door, he’d noticed the winding road up to the house. Civilisation was nearby, but not so near that he would be able to walk.

“Do you think we’re… in Korea?” she asks slowly.

“Korea…” The country sounds familiar too, but feels wrong. Chanyeol shakes his head as he slurps a bit of soup. “Not Korea.”

“Good, good. We’re from Korea.” Nayeon’s hand moves between the two of them. “And you’re right, we’re not living in Korea now.”

“Why?”

Hesitation on her part causes Chanyeol to lift a curious eyebrow. “We had our reasons,” she says simply.

“Are you going to tell me?”

She shakes her head. “Before this happened the second time, Yeol, you made me promise that if it ever happened again, I wouldn’t tell you about it.”

Chanyeol’s brow furrows at this statement. “Okay.”

“This happens a lot,” she reminds him. “So, we’re not in Korea. Where do you think we are?”

Chanyeol’s mind is still stuck on the fact that he asked her not to tell him about why they left Korea. But her dark eyes refuse to leave his face and he feels compelled to answer her question.

“Are we… in Asia?”

She shakes her head once.

“America.”

One nod.

He gazes out the window again and suddenly the name comes to him.

“Arizona.”

Nayeon smiles. “Perfect, Yeol.” She pats his hand as she moves towards another door. “Finish eating and then you should get some rest. You must be tired. I’m going to put the horses back in the stable. The pup should be around here somewhere. I think she missed you.”

Chanyeol doesn’t catch the part about something missing him as he’s now focused on the food in front of him, which warms his stomach immensely. His mind is still picking apart why his past self had asked Nayeon not to tell him about why they’d left Korea.

Mindlessly, he buries his hand into his pocket with the intention to pull out his phone. Instead, his fingers brush against small little beads. Chanyeol drops them on the table and finds they’re pills. Confused, he scoops one up to inspect. He squishes it in between his fingers.

Nayeon walks back through the room from the bedroom. She glances at the pills now on the table. “You have medication?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Have I always had medication?”

She takes the one he holds out for her. “You have,” she mutters. “Hmm, but don’t eat them until I have a closer look. It’s going to get dark soon and the horses hate the dark.” She puts it back on the table and kisses the top of his head. He’s aware of how her hand runs through his locks, how he wants to lean back into her palm.

“It’s always good to have you back, Yeolie.” Then she heads out again.

Left alone, Chanyeol finds himself pushing the pills back and forth across the table. In his pocket, there is an open pill bottle. Oh, so he does have prescription.

_Take on the 8 th of every month. _

Chanyeol counts out the pills and finds there’s twelve there.

“So how will I refill this after a year?” he mutters. The doctor who prescribed them isn’t listed on the bottle.

Before he can think about it, a black puppy comes running through the open door. She yaps loudly and hurries right up to his side. When he doesn’t pick her up right away, she scrambles up his leg from under the table.

Her name is on his tongue before he even realizes he knows it. “Hi Ina. Did you miss me?” When he kisses her little wet nose, he wonders where he’s gone and for how long that his puppy would even have time to miss him.

 

* * * 

 

Nayeon returns half an hour later and finds Chanyeol on the kitchen floor playing with the puppy. However, his eyes are naturally drawn towards her as she wanders over. It’s not hard to notice her inspecting the pills still laid out on the table.

“Oh, prescription!” he says, his attention back on the pills. “There’s a bottle. I’m supposed to take it on the 8th every month.”

Nayeon hums in response. “Yes, I remember. I guess that means you’ve already had one.”

Chanyeol shrugs.

“Okay, well we don’t want to overdose you, so next month you’ll take one.”

Chanyeol uses the hat that he’d woken up with to play fetch with Ina. The hat isn’t even something he’d wear himself, so he doesn’t mind if it’s a little chewed up. It must be Nayeon’s choice. Why else would he have it?

She runs a free hand through his hair as she puts the pill bottle on top of the fridge. “You should shower, Yeolie.”

He nods. “I will, I will.”

“Ina will be right here when you get back out. Come on, you stink,” she teases.

Chanyeol sighs and gets to his feet, the puppy setting the black hat down at his feet. “We’ll play before bed, kid,” he promises. A quick scratch behind the ears seems to translate the message to her. Ina runs off into the living room and hops onto the couch to find her favourite spot in between two couch cushions.

“How long have we had her?” Chanyeol asks as he tries a door. It leads to the bedroom. He pokes his head in for only a moment, gauging the bed and the dresser that he can see in his split second look.

“Ina? A little over a year.”

A year. They’ve lived here for a year, more from the sound of Nayeon’s attachment to the horses.

Chanyeol goes for the only other door in the place besides the entrance. The bathroom is small, with a stand up shower and a toilet visible as soon as he opens the door. The sink is to the left with a counter that takes up the entire length of the wall. He takes in the two toothbrushes and the large mirror. Intuition tells him which cabinet is his and he takes a good guess at what’s behind it.

There is cologne, a multitude of skincare products, hair products, and some ointment. Burn ointment.

“Huh, I must be clumsy,” he mumbles to himself.

“Uhm, Nayeon-ah,” he calls, “where are my—?”

She appears in the doorway with a pile of clothes. “You tend to forget that you need clothes the first night.”

Chanyeol chuckles. “This must happen a lot.”

She shrugs. Her eyes look sad, but she looks pleased to have him back. Back from wherever he apparently disappeared to. Her excuse about him taking the horses out this morning disintegrated pretty quickly. On instinct, Chanyeol leans forward to kiss her forehead and she accepts his kiss.

“You still stink,” she whispers.

“Sorry, I’ll get on that,” he laughs.

Nayeon closes the bathroom door behind her as she goes. When Chanyeol strips himself of his oddly nice outfit, he notices the burn marks up his arms. Curious, he gives them little pokes. They don’t hurt, but they haven’t bunched together in the way that burn scars tend to heal. They aren’t that big either, congregating around his wrists. Now that he looks more carefully at them, they almost look like they were put there on purpose.

With his arm so close to his face, he also notices the other things he is sure shouldn’t be on skin. The prick marks at the bend in his elbow, where they tend to poke you to do blood tests. The bruising on his right arm where it seems they couldn’t get the vein.

Chanyeol’s eyes widen when he sees a fire burst in his hand. When he blinks it’s gone, and he’s left staring at his left hand to wonder if it was even real.

 

* * *

 

A month goes by and Chanyeol doesn’t think so much about that First Day even though he struggles to remember past it. If he tries to think back to his childhood, nothing comes to mind. So Nayeon fills in blanks for him, because according to her they were best friends as children.

“What do we do for work?” he enquires one morning as they’re letting the horses out to graze.

It takes her a while to answer that question.

“Jagi?” The nickname fell off his tongue that first night they’d been together and she hadn’t shied away from it, so he uses it often.

She pulls the door open to the last stable. Carefully, she places a rope around a white horse’s neck, Dawn, and leads her out of the barn.

“We… don’t work.”

“We don’t? How do we live then? I don’t remember a lot of stuff, but I know that to live you need to pay for things.” Chanyeol’s eyes widen. “We don’t steal the groceries when we go, do we?”

They’d gone out twice to the grocery store half an hour away. They had a car out front that Chanyeol loved to drive up and down the hill. They didn’t tend to venture too far from the house, which worked for them since they had picked such a remote place to live.

“No, of course not, Chanyeol!” she scolds. Once at the edge of the pasture, she lets the horse go. They stand at the gate and watch their seven horses wander around. Chanyeol is planning to take one out for a ride later that night.

“Okay, so how do we pay for those groceries? I’m definitely not working and you’re home all the time too, so I don’t think you are either. I doubt these horses are racing horses, not even sure why we have them.”

“Someone pays for us,” she informs him.

“Well that doesn’t make sense. We aren’t American citizens.”

Nayeon sighs. “Not the government. Not our government. We just… people pay us.”

“But why would they pay for us to live out here?”

“It’s really complicated, Yeolie, and another thing that I promised I wouldn’t tell you about.”

Chanyeol’s gotten used to a lot of things being off the table. There are things he can’t ask about. From the age of 16 to now, Chanyeol realizes that Nayeon’s answers become vague, hazy at best. He doesn’t press her, because she seems to get uncomfortable.

“Oh, have you talked to Baekhyun lately?” he asks.

Nayeon freezes at the name. “Baek…hyun?”

“Yeah, Byun Baekhyun, from high school?”

Her dark eyes swing his way, complete confusion in them. “How do you…?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I don’t know. I just thought of him last night. For some reason, I had a dream about him.”

“A dream about… about what exactly?”

“I don’t know. The past few nights I’ve been having these really odd dreams.” He hoists himself up onto the fence and she does the same. They tend to sit on the fence in the mornings when the air feels nice. It’s steadily getting colder as winter comes, but it’s peaceful. Chanyeol finds this whole life peaceful.

But his dreams… his dreams are nothing even remotely close to being peaceful.

“Dreams about what?” Nayeon presses.

“About like Baekhyun and me in this weird maze. It’s really creepy. Crumbling walls, dark rooms, a lot of dust.” Chanyeol chuckles to himself. “We’ve been watching too many scary movies, I think.”

In the evenings, they like to switch on the TV and binge watch shows until it gets late. The mornings are meant for relaxing, reading, playing with Ina. Their afternoons are spent cleaning the house, weeding the gardens and vegetables, taking care of the horses and the chickens that Chanyeol had been surprised to see the second day.

Now, Nayeon’s laugh comes out airy, nothing like the belly laugh that Chanyeol’s used to. So he looks over at her. Her face is strained, her skin pale.

“Are you alright?”

“Did you take your medication?”

“Medication?”

“On the 8th?”

Chanyeol thinks back. The days sort of blend together now. “What day is it?”

“It’s the 15th.”

“I don’t think I did!” He looks over at her. “You think that’s why I’m having these weird dreams?”

Nayeon nods. “Probably.”

“I’ll take one at lunch.” They sit in silence for a minute. “Oh! So _have_ you talked to Baekhyun lately?”

“No, I haven’t. We lost touch, uhm, when we moved out here.”

“Oh.”

“I’m not even sure where he is.”

“Huh. In my dream, it felt as if I’d just seen him.” Chanyeol shrugs and his face breaks out into a smile. “But hey, it’s good that I’m remembering stuff right? I remember Baekhyun.”

Her nod is slow. Chanyeol swears she looks scared. “Yeah, that’s good.” Nayeon slides off the fence. “Take your pill at lunch, okay? Maybe those dreams will go away.”

Chanyeol nods over his shoulder as she disappears into the house. He wants to watch the horses a little while longer, but in the distance, a little black speck distracts him. “Ina?”

He swears she was in the house.

“Yeolie! Where’s Ina?” Nayeon shouts through the kitchen window.

Chanyeol glances back at her. She’s sticking her head out, staring at him. Then he looks back to the little black speck just as it disappears into the forest. “She must’ve gotten out!” he shouts. “I’ll go get her.”

He knows he won’t be able to cross the distance of the field fast enough on his legs without losing her. So he swings up onto Mable, bareback. “God, this is gonna hurt.” He squeezes his legs to get the horse to move faster. Chanyeol leans forward and unlocks the gate just in time for the horse to get through.

Now at a canter, Chanyeol moves towards the spot where he saw Ina disappear into the forest. It’s a good thing he still has a rope slung over his body from taking Chestnut out of the barn. He uses it to tie Mable to a nearby tree. Just in case, he tells her, “Don’t go anywhere, okay? Nayeon-ah will have my head if you get lost too.”

As if she understands, the horse bobs its head once before munching at the grass.

Chanyeol sees the little puppy prints in the damp earth. It had rained last night, so the air smells fresh as he weaves through the area. Ina’s paw prints get harder to follow as the ground dries in parts with thicker canopies, but he manages to stay on her trail.

When he sees her in a clearing, staring at him patiently, he shakes his head. The tilt in her head seems to say ‘You finally found me’. He scoops her up and then a chill runs up his spine. Slowly, he stands.

Looking in all directions, there’s nothing but dense forest. He can see the trail he’d taken, he’s not worried about getting lost. No, Chanyeol has an odd feeling that he’s being watched.

Chanyeol strains his eyes. When Ina huddles into his chest at the next sound, Chanyeol is on high alert.

_Is there someone here?_

“Nayeon-ah?” he calls.

Swallowing, he moves where he thinks he heard the sound from. But then the sound is behind him and he panics. He throws one hand out in front of him and cries out in surprise when suddenly the brush in front of him catches on fire.

And all at once, three million things fly through his mind as if he’s being sucked through a wormhole of his own life. Baekhyun is real; he’d seen Baekhyun recently. He’d also seen other people recently, other people he recognized and knew well. But he couldn’t name them even if he tried.

The sudden weight of memories that he doesn’t know how to place causes him to collapse to his knees. Ina’s paws rest against his chest and she yaps at him, asking if he’s okay.

Chanyeol isn’t sure how long he’s sitting in that forest for when Nayeon appears at his side. The fire has slowly spread, but hasn’t extended beyond the clearing.

“God, you should’ve taken your pills,” she says when she finds him.

“What’s going _on_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before I really knew about Twice, so Nayeon isn't meant to look like Nayeon. That's not how I envisioned her to look anyway 😅


	2. London, 15:00

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knew his name.  
> Sort of.  
> It started with a J.

**London, 15:00**

Jongin hasn’t been in London that long. A week maybe? He knows it can’t be much longer than that, but the days have all blurred together so he’s not 100% sure. As he buttons up his white shirt, he wonders what else he can do to blend in. It’s not as if he’ll be in London long anyway, they somehow always find him.

He isn’t even really sure who _they_ are. He just knows they’re there, that they’ve always been there. His memory doesn’t go back that far, maybe two months. But it’s getting better. There are things he’s remembering. One important memory is that he can teleport.

It’s how he’s been keeping himself alive, because every time he gets that feeling someone is closing in on him, he jumps. To a new city, under a new name if he has to.

For now, he’s decided on Kai. Not that that many people ask.

Jongin’s arms slip into his black coat and he steps outside. He finds teleporting into different hotel rooms the most efficient way to get around. If he doesn’t order room service, then no one will ever know he was in there.

Out in the hallway, he looks both ways before heading down the stairs towards the kitchens. He needs something to eat. Staying close to the walls, he trails some of the kitchen help down to the ballroom. The smells are delicious, mixes of scones and sandwiches, bacon and sausage. It’s so busy in hotel kitchens that they don’t tend to pay close attention. He’s learned that as long as he doesn’t say anything, doesn’t take anything special, people won’t notice him.

His dark eyes scan the room, calculating all the exits, making sure he hasn’t seen these faces before. As Jongin moves through the room, placing things onto his plate, his eyes continue to dart towards the doorways. There’s one face he always sees everywhere. It’s a woman. She has a hard face, like she’s studying him. And sometimes, depending on where he is, he can hear camera shutters.

When his plate is full, he eases out of the kitchen and takes a seat in an empty stairwell. As he eats, he listens to people moving up and down the stairs, but no one comes down this particular staircase.

Jongin heads out after his late lunch, wondering where he’ll go. His life has become a game of how much he can see in a day. He enjoys touring, even if he doesn’t have any documented evidence that he’s seen anything. It’s more for his benefit and London has been on his list.

 

* * *

 

Two months ago, he had woken up in Toronto, Canada. And he’d woken up in a park. A girl his age had shaken him awake.

“ _Hi, you probably should wake up soon. You might be late for school_.” He’d only understood some of what she’d said. Then she spoke in a language he understood, “Hey, if you don’t get up, you’ll be late for school. Did the pigeons bore you?” She glanced behind her before turning back to him. “Did you stay up all night working on a paper too?”

Jongin stared up at her, totally confused and trying hard not to panic. His mind was going a mile a minute, but all it was doing was trying to register everything. Why did it feel as if his mind was a complete void? Why was it that when he tried to think about what had happened the night before, or even a few hours before, nothing came up?

He knew his name. Sort of. It started with a J. It came to him a few hours later that his name was Jongin. The backpack at his feet must mean he was in school. Or he was supposed to be considering the girl was telling him he was late.

English. He was studying English. When he looked around, he got up and followed the girl at a distance. If she was going to school, she might be going to his school.

But when she turned left instead of right, Jongin’s instincts told him that she was going the wrong way. Not having much else to go on, he turned right and kept walking. Then a campus came into view.

Once on campus, though, his mind was a complete blank. There was nothing coming to him. He knew he was in the right place, but he had no idea where he was supposed to go, had no idea what he was even taking at the school. So he had turned around and walked away.

He’d slept on the street for a week, because he had nowhere else to go. Most nights, he ventured back to the park where he felt safer. At least he knew the pigeons there, and a lot of the other people sleeping there would leave him alone if he didn’t stare.

Then one day, Jongin felt eyes on him. Not the usual eyes on him, like from girls his age. It was different. Something that sent chills up his spine. When he glanced over his shoulder, there was no one there. No one he noticed anyway. But he picked up his pace. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, but he needed a meal. And he had gotten good at… he didn’t want to call it _stealing_ ; he liked to think of it as surviving.

For some odd reason, he was very good at it. Maybe it was his face, which was a mix of sweet and devilish. People weren’t sure whether he would steal from them or give them a million dollars just because he could.

He tended towards smaller grocery stores, things that were local, which didn’t have loads of security in them. As he was browsing the aisles for his breakfast, he noticed someone following him. In the corner of some smaller businesses, rather than cameras, there were mirrors. Circular mirrors that showed different directions and could help owners keep track of the people in their store. If they were paying attention of course.

Swiftly, he plucked a small bag of nuts and some trail mix before turning. He decided he would meet his stalker head on and continued down the aisle. In his pockets, he toyed with the pill bottle that he had woken up with. They said to take one on the 8th every month. Except he didn’t understand why he had to take them. He felt fine. Besides the years that he missed, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with him.

Flipping the pill bottle over, he brushed by the stranger that was following him around. She pretended as if she didn’t know him, but Jongin started seeing her everywhere. And he wondered if she knew that he knew that she was following him.

Five weeks ago, he learned he could teleport. He hadn’t taken the pill on the 8th. And five days after that, he started having consistent dreams. They almost felt like nightmares, but nothing quite so scary.

There was a maze. He could definitely remember a maze. He could remember other faces in that maze with him, ones that he had passed? Or were they people in the maze with him too? He had no idea. The details were fuzzy.

But when he started having those dreams, he realized what his body could do. The dreams hadn’t felt like dreams, they’d felt like memories. And whenever he knew that crazy lady was following him, his mind would go a mile a minute to get him out of the situation as if it had been in it before.

It took him a lot of practice to get the hang of it. When he first realized he could do it, he had to figure out how _exactly_ to do it. It wasn’t just jumping. It wasn’t willing himself to be there. It was a combination of the two. Well at first anyway.

He needed the momentum of a jump to get his mind to follow through with the teleportation.

 

* * *

 

Five weeks on, bouncing through different cities to get away from the odd woman following him, he could do it on the spot if he wanted.

As he wanders through London, snatching a large lollipop at one of the stores near the London Eye, he can hear that incessant clicking again. It’s become normal to him, even if he finds it annoying as hell. Somehow, they always find him and he doesn’t understand how. He can move across the planet in a blink of an eye, but somehow, in a few hours, that feeling of someone watching him makes his hair stand on end.

After he’d been able to identify the one woman, they’d started interchanging them. There was a set of five people that trailed him. When he glances over his shoulder pretending to admire a t-shirt, he sees a man standing in a bush with a camera. Before the next shutter click, he moves three meters out of view.

He gets in line for the London Eye. The streets of London are busy with tourists due to the sunny day. The sun is warm on the back of his neck as he counts the faces he sees. There aren’t many people he recognizes, but those five faces he recognizes. And all five of them are here today.

“Hmm, weird,” he mutters. He turns to the trio of girls who keep peeking at him. A small smile grows on his face and he nods his head in their direction. The phone in his pocket buzzes.

He isn’t sure why he has this phone. It’s not as if he has anyone to really call, a few friends he’s made in the cities he frequents. One of the people he’d met, an Oh Sehun, in Edinburgh two weeks back, had texted him a few days ago to check on him.

They’d been taking the same pills, prescribed for the same date. They’d brushed it off as a coincidence.

But the phone was not a coincidence. It had appeared in one hotel that he stayed in three nights in a row. He was sure he’d finally escaped his stalkers, but then a new phone was on his bed. It was a bad idea to take it, but it was free. And his way of life had taught him that free things should be taken.

The text he receives reads, _I can help you._

His body freezes as he reads it. Help him with what? Jongin’s eyes lift. The first woman he’d “met” is staring right at him, her phone open in her hand.

_But you can’t run away again_ , is the next text he reads.

Jongin doesn’t reply. He follows the girls in line. The woman manning the Eye today gives him a once over. “ _Are you riding alone, sir_?” she asks in English.

Jongin nods. He understands more now, can understand TV shows, and natural flows of conversation in bars and cafés, but he hasn’t been able to wrap his tongue around actually speaking the language, so he remains mute most of the time.

“ _Okay, careful, sir. Enjoy the view._ ”

Jongin steps into the car and watches as five heads turn up to watch him go. He quickly fires off a text to Sehun, knowing full well that those people can probably track him.

_Hun-ah, be careful._


	3. Edinburgh, 15:25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You have a feeling someone is following you too?” 
> 
> “Yeah.”
> 
> “We might just be paranoid."
> 
> “What are the chances that two Korean boys living on different parts of the planet are taking the same pills and have an eerie feeling of being watched?”

**Edinburgh, 15:25**

Things have seemed off lately. There are blanks in his memory. He can remember the strangest things, faces with names he can’t place, a hospital, flashes of nurses. But where he went to school, where he grew up, none of those things come to mind when he thinks about them. He can’t blame it on forgetfulness, because he’s not really forgetting. It’s there. The memories are there, he can feel them, but he can’t _remember_ them. When he thinks about it, it feels as if his mind hits a wall.

His phone buzzes in his palm now.

_Hun-ah, be careful._

Of the faces he dreams about, when he suddenly saw one of them standing in front of him at Edinburgh Castle of all places, he had stared. Full on stared.

“ _Sehun, what are you looking at?_ ” the British girl he worked with asked.

Sehun shrugged. He was a tour guide at the castle and toured the Korean tourists that came to visit. There weren’t that many, but he manned the gift shop if there were no tourists for him that day.

“ _That guy looks familiar_.”

She followed his gaze and Sehun noticed the look on her face. It was the same expression she wore when she looked at Sehun, a once over and a shy smile. “ _You should talk to him for me._ ”

Sehun would take any opportunity to talk to the man that he saw in his memories. It wasn’t the only face, but his had been the most prominent. Even walking up to him, he’d felt familiar.

“Hey, are you Korean?”

The boy stared at him in disbelief. “ _You’re_ Korean.”

Sehun nodded and the two of them got to talking. He introduced himself as Kai at first. Apparently, he didn’t have anywhere to stay, having only arrived in Edinburgh minutes before.

“I wanted to see some of the sights before looking for a hotel,” he said.

For some reason, Sehun knew the boy was lying already, but he didn’t call him on it.

The two of them had hit it off and Kai spent a week in Edinburgh with him. When he entered Sehun’s place and used the bathroom to shower, Sehun had been making dinner. Sehun almost spilled boiling water on himself when he heard Kai behind him.

“What do you take these for?” Kai asked.

Sehun set the pot down and saw his pill bottle in Kai’s hand. “Huh? Oh.” Sehun failed to mention that he’d woken up with that pill bottle in his hand. It was the first day he could thoroughly remember. “Yeah, I’m not really sure why I take them,” he admitted.

“You’re supposed to take them on the 8th too,” Kai commented.

Sehun glanced back then. “What? Really? You take the medication too? Why do you take them?”

Kai shook his head. “I have no idea if I’m being honest.”

Sehun laughed in response. Half the time, he wasn’t sure if Kai was joking or not. “Well, I’m not even sure if I should take them. I feel fine, you know?”

Kai nodded. “Yeah, I understand that.”

Kai had been staying with him for a week when Sehun noticed him becoming increasingly more jumpy. Sehun asked if it was something to do with him, or if Emily, the girl he worked with, was freaking him out.

“Oh, uhm, no, not that.” Kai glanced over his shoulder. He walked the tours with Sehun or spent the time in the gift shop. If the day was super slow, he went touring in Edinburgh.

“So, what’s got you so…?” Sehun reached for Kai’s arm to steer him in the opposite direction and Kai had jumped high into the air. “Whoa, dude, you should—”

“We need to go somewhere with lots of people,” Kai said then.

Concerned, Sehun took him to the Primark nearby and they wandered through the aisles. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“First of all my name’s not Kai. It’s Jongin.”

Sehun’s brow had furrowed, because why lie about it?

“And someone’s following me,” Kai— _Jongin_ whispered. He touched a woman’s t-shirt and the two of them huddled around it. “It’s why I came to Edinburgh. I should’ve left a while ago, but I thought they would leave me alone.”

“You have a feeling someone is following you too?” Sehun asked. It was a feeling that terrified him as he made his way home from work. No matter how many times he looked over his shoulder, he never saw anyone.

“Yeah.”

“We might just be paranoid,” Sehun chuckled nervously. He didn’t want to think that someone could be stalking him. It comforted him a little that Jongin was also being followed, but not by much.

“But if we’re not.” Jongin shot him a look. “What are the chances that two Korean boys living on different parts of the planet are taking the same pills and have an eerie feeling of being watched?”

Sehun shrugged. “I don’t know. Not very likely, but it could happen. I don’t know, Jonginie, it sounds weird, but we live in different continents, it could just be pure coincidence.”

That seemed to ease Jongin’s nerves a little. “Well, I should still leave tomorrow. I’m imposing.”

That was two weeks ago. Sehun had taken Jongin to the airport and that’s when he realized Jongin had no bags, no real belongings. “Passport?” Sehun had asked.

Jongin nodded, gesturing vaguely to his jacket pocket. He was wearing the same outfit that Sehun had met him in. The rest of the week, Sehun had offered him clothes. Some of them were too tight, others kinda baggy. Their builds were completely different, but Jongin didn’t seem to mind.

“Well, keep in touch,” Jongin said. “Let me know if anything weird happens.”

Sehun nodded. “Sure, Jonginie. Take care of yourself. You’re always welcome at… my house.” His house. He still wasn’t sure if it was his house.

When he woke up in Edinburgh weeks ago, in a bed that he wasn’t sure was his, he had felt lost and confused. The first thing he’d noticed was the pill bottle in his hand.

_Take on the 8 th of every month._

Sehun didn’t like taking medication. Swallowing pills, swallowing syrup, anything that was supposed to make him better tasted disgusting to him. So he tended to avoid taking any antibiotics. Of all the things he could remember, seeing those pills had brought it back.

So he’d stored them in the bathroom, in the cabinet behind the mirror, and left them there. When Jongin had shown him the bottle, he knew that the boy had been snooping. It hadn’t bothered him; he had nothing to hide.

And then his Second Day, Emily had called him.

“ _Hey, Sehun, you’re working today. Where are you?_ ”

Without thinking, he had responded perfectly. “ _Oh. I’m at home. Sorry._ ”

“ _It’s a good thing you’re cute,_ ” she’d teased. “ _I’ll tell Haz that you’ll be late._ ”

“ _Yeah, sure. Thanks._ ”

And then he realized that he wasn’t sure _where_ he worked. So he searched his closet, looking for any tells, any uniforms, but nothing came up.

He hated to have to call the girl and ask her where he worked, like he was an idiot. But there was no way he was going to know.

“ _Sehun?_ ”

He pressed fingers to the bridge of his nose that day, because God, why couldn’t he just _remember_? “ _I’m sorry. Where are you?_ ”

“ _Huh_?”

“ _Like where do we work?_ ”

“ _Oh._ ” Her voice softened and Sehun wondered, still wondered, if him forgetting where he worked happened often. “ _Yeah, Edinburgh Castle_.” Emily went through the process, which train he should take, and then told him to get off at Waverly Station. “ _There will be signs to get you to the castle, okay, Sehun?_ ”

“ _Yeah, thank you. I’m sorry._ ”

“ _Hey, don’t worry about it. See you when you get here_.”

And Emily had been sort of a saving grace for him. When she said little things that bumped his memory, he would ask her to clarify the details. She obliged happily, explaining memories.

From what he’d understood, he’d moved to Edinburgh three years ago and was doing a dance degree at one of the local universities.

“You never show me your dancing,” she said. “But I’m sure you’re good.”

Sehun chuckled. He lived in an apartment near a university and took himself to one of the department heads. She smiled at him and showed him to his classes. Sehun felt as if he’d walked the hallways a million times, so he knew he was in the right place.

Now, he can’t stop thinking about the text from Jongin.

_Hun-ah, be careful._

Every time he tries to text him back, the text doesn’t send.

Sehun wanders up to the castle, eyes still on his phone. There are some things that he’s been wondering about, places he’s walked by that spark memories. Jongin called him around the 8th and they decided to skip their medication.

“Just to see what will happen,” Jongin had said. During that call, Sehun hadn’t asked where Jongin had flown off to, or if he’d gone back to Toronto.

But he agreed. And that’s when the nightmares started happening, more vividly than the memories he had in his First Week. When he woke up, his mind tried to put things in order, tried to insert Jongin properly into the places it thought he should fit.

One night, he was too scared to sleep and started wandering around Edinburgh. He wasn’t sure how long he walked for, but he came upon a house. One that had sent an odd feeling through him. Something about that house hadn’t felt right to him, but he ignored it and gone home.

Now, with Jongin’s warnings, maybe there _was_ something there, something he wasn’t supposed to remember. He’d checked off the stops he’d taken that night. He told Jongin maybe everything was a coincidence, but Sehun doesn’t believe in _that_ much coincidence.

It’s only a four-hour shift today. He’ll be done by 7:30. He’ll man the gift shop for a while and then walk through the castle picking up any leaflets and garbage. So he decides that he’ll head to that house tonight, because what if people really _are_ following him? He hasn’t been able to shake the feeling that someone’s there.

“ _Oh Sehun_!” Emily shouts at him. She’s had to work six hours today. “ _God, you always worry a girl that you aren’t going to show up_.” She pecks both his cheeks.

When she first did that, Sehun had started in surprise. She had reassured him that it was a greeting, nothing more. But their manager, Harry, always smiled at them over her head whenever she did it.

“ _Hey, I show up every day. You can’t say I’m unreliable._ ”

She squints up at him, a tilt in her head. “ _I guess not. Anyway, I need to go. I have an essay that needs to be written for tomorrow. We’ll go for dinner sometime, hmm?_ ”

And then she’s out the door.

Sehun sets up behind the counter and smiles at passing customers. He keeps flicking through his phone, hoping that Jongin will text him again. At least to warn him what’s going on, because why does he need to be careful? Why _now_?

There is something that is tying him to Jongin, and he _knows_ he knows what it is. Maybe if he just thinks about it hard enough.

 

* * * 

 

Sehun spends the next four hours racking his brain, but the mental wall gets put up every time. It’s easier to get to the wall now and it doesn’t happen so forcefully. He wonders what exactly he is trying to repress, because that’s the only real explanation, isn’t it? He’s trying to suppress severe trauma that involved Jongin and all those other nameless faces.

He pauses as he bends down to pick up another brochure. “Then do I want to try to figure out what it is?” he mutters to himself.

Sehun wanders around the grounds, making sure all the doors are locked. Then he stops at the gift shop to grab his things before leavin. He wanders down the walkway and checks his map where the house is check marked. He’d marked the corner where the house resided. It was a half hour walk, ten minutes if he took the bus.

It’s already quite dark out, so while he’d love to get the exercise in, he waits for the bus. He finds the winter breeze to be too cold for his liking. So he does what he always does. Sehun’s eyes settle closed and he thinks about warm summer breezes, the kind that are refreshing on a summer day.

For some reason, this trick always works for him and the air around him feels as if it is changing to a warmer temperature. Sometimes you gotta fake it to make it, he supposes. The bus doesn’t come for another five minutes and Sehun is completely content in his little ball of warm air.

Once on the bus, he stares out the window the entire ride, watching his city go by. The architecture is old and it never fails to amaze him how some of the buildings and castles have stood the test of time. And somewhere in the back of his mind, he thinks about the skyscrapers he knew once.

He’s sure they’re from another lifetime, or from a show he watched before. Or maybe he did live in a city with skyscrapers. Maybe the reason he knows Jongin is because they went to school together in Toronto. Except he doubts he’s from Toronto. From what he read about the city, it’s too freezing for his liking and he would never move there on his own accord.

Sehun wonders if he chose Edinburgh because of its architecture. And he wonders if he’ll ever remember the real reasons he left Korea or if he was born and raised in Scotland. Because he knows he’s only been in Edinburgh three years, but maybe he moved for university. Emily doesn’t know enough to answer that.

He rarely wonders about family, because that makes him sad. There’re no remnants of a family in his apartment, so he assumes he never wanted to think about them. It’s also possible he never knew them.

Sehun gets off at the right stop, on the corner where he’d put a large checkmark. Tucking his phone away, he pulls the roll neck of his sweater higher up and walks towards the house at the very end of the street.

The sky has lightened a bit, which is odd since he’s pretty sure that shouldn’t happen at night with winter settling in. As he nears the house, the moon comes out and it’s easier to get a look at it.

It’s a modern house, more modern than a lot of the small apartments lining the streets. It’s also easily the largest house in the area. He wanders up the driveway, wondering if anyone even lives in such a nice place. The curtains are wide open and he can see into the living room. It looks right out of a magazine. Small decorations like terrariums and hexagonal wiring ceiling lamps are prominent.

Sehun spends a lot of his time in a medieval castle; so modern décor is often lost on him. Even his tiny apartment lacks anything with real charm; it’s only the essentials. But this house would be something he would see on his social media feed with its whites and copper styling.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone home. Since it’s such a nice place, Sehun wonders for a moment if there are any security measures around it. So quietly, he knocks on the door.

No answer.

He knocks again, slightly louder.

Still nothing.

So he makes the assumption that nobody is home and wanders around the side of the house to look for a back entrance. Something about this house has drawn him here, but what could it be?

The back door is large, all windows. He assumes that it’s to let in sunlight; it’s facing the direction the sun would set anyway. But it’s not the nice windows or the nice dining room that catches his attention. It’s the floating objects.

There are _floating_ objects. And from where he stands, he can see two small children. Sehun tilts his head at them, because _God_ , they look familiar. The kids don’t notice him though as he turns the doorknob to let himself inside. Do these kids even have parents? There weren’t any cars in the driveway.

Sehun is cautious as he makes his way over to them. They’re in the living room he’d been peering into, how had he not seen them or the flying objects from outside?

Just to make sure that this whole crazy experience is in fact real, he reaches out for the floating wooden airplane he passes. With two fingers, he gives it a light tap. The wooden toy begins rotating in midair. That is definitely against any kinds of laws of physics.

_This is real._

It’s mostly the moon lighting the room and Sehun is jumpy at best. This is exactly how a horror movie starts. Two kids, weird things, a full moon, and a dark house that is way too nice there has to be something wrong with it.

But nothing comes. Not until the kids slowly drop their gaze to look at him. They aren’t what send him running out of the place. It’s the eclipse. The moon begins to go dark as the earth passes over it and something sparks in him that he doesn’t like. Something settles in his stomach that makes him want to throw up.

Running out of the place, he has to grab the doorway to swing himself in the right direction. He turns his face up to the moon that is going black the closer he gets to the bus stop. The ten-minute interval between buses should be coming up now.

Sehun can feel those nightmares chasing him, because something about them is triggered in the night. The dark pulls at his mind, trying to open something that he is so firmly trying to keep closed.

He shuts his eyes, wishing for warm summer breezes to calm his nerves and they come without fail. The breeze ruffles his hair, and while the goose bumps that broke out with the eclipse don’t subside, he notices them less.

_Inhale, exhale_ , he chants to himself.

The bus rolls up in front of him and he hurries on. When he slides into his seat, he can see the house at the end of the street and the image of floating toys and strange kids and an eclipse that came out of nowhere burn in his memory. People on the bus are hurrying to take photos, because there was no eclipse scheduled today. Is the world ending?

But for some reason, Sehun has an idea that that eclipse is meant for him.


	4. Lyon, 6:27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are three things Baekhyun knows for sure.  
> One, he woke up in a king sized bed in a nice upscale apartment and there were pills spilled on his bedside table.  
> Two, he can’t remember much past the last two and a half months.  
> And three, he loves a good morning stroll.

**Lyon, 6:27**

Baekhyun always loved a good morning stroll; it’s one of the only things he’s sure of at the moment. Life seems as if it’s slipping through his fingers, but he has no idea why. He doesn’t have any idea about anything really. But there are three things Baekhyun knows for sure.

One, he woke up in a king sized bed in a nice upscale apartment and there were pills spilled on his bedside table.

Two, he can’t remember much past the last two and a half months. Things are hazy at best, but he isn’t even sure if they’re memories or things he’s seen on television. He’s tested himself on things he knows. How old he is (he’s guessing around 24) and when his birthday is (he’s decided on early May), but other than that, he can’t say much else. This has been worrying him a lot when he gets in the shower.

And three, he loves a good morning stroll. Winter is in full swing now, so when he gets up at 5:30, the sky is still dark. This is his favourite time to walk, because it feels as if the street lamps are brighter and the air is the right amount of brisk and clear that he can feel his lungs fully expanding and his head becoming less foggy.

That’s what it is. His mind just feels _foggy_.

Baekhyun believes it’s the medication he’s taking. When he tried to search up the ingredients in the pills (because he can’t remember why he takes them), he got many search results, but not the string of ingredients on his pill bottle. From the few things that he’s read, it has to do with memory. He isn’t sure if it’s supposed to enhance or suppress his memory. If it’s the former, he should stop taking them, because clearly they aren’t effective. If it’s the latter, they might be too strong, because _all_ his memories feel suppressed.

So he goes on these walks to try and remember.

On this particular morning, Baekhyun wakes up feeling antsy. There’s been a prickling feeling at the base of his neck, like something is wrong. The feeling of uneasiness has been there the last few weeks, giving him this weird idea that he’s being followed. Except there are only three places he really goes and he recognizes most of the faces there now. He heads to work, he lives at home, and he goes to the supermarket for groceries. Other than that, the only change of scenery he gets comes from his morning walk where he tends to loop in different directions from his house.

Sliding into his favourite shoes and pulling his leather jacket on, Baekhyun heads out the door, that prickling feeling already following him as he takes the stairs. When he glances back over his shoulder, there’s nothing there.

_I’m so paranoid_ , he scolds himself.

Baekhyun looks both ways once he steps out of the lobby. Which way to go today? He decides on left and pops his headphones in. With a solemn beat to walk to, he thinks back to the dream he had last night. It’s a recurring dream, not that it means anything to him. However, there was one prominent face that he remembers, someone with large ears and significant height. There was also a lot of running. He isn’t sure where they were running to or what they were running from, but even when he woke up from his odd dream, he still felt breathless.

The name came to him a few days ago, _Chanyeol_. But he isn’t sure who this Chanyeol is or how he knows him. Did he just make up the name? When the nightmares started happening earlier in the month, Baekhyun found himself staying up later to avoid sleep. The dreams were vivid, dust in his clothes and coating his skin, walls that felt as if they were closing in. In his dreams, there was a sense of urgency, as if his life depended on… escaping.

He scratches his head. What is he escaping from in his dreams? Past lovers? Past horrors? Besides this Chanyeol guy popping up in his dreams and a few other guys he doesn’t know, he can’t help but wonder what his dreams are trying to tell him.

Is it a sexuality dream? Is his subconscious trying to tell him something?

Baekhyun almost laughs at the absurdity of that thought. Even without his memories, Baekhyun knows where his attractions lay.

He turns his attention down to the pavement under foot. Unable to come up with anything better other than the name Chanyeol and a guy with large ears, he tries to draw up Chanyeol as best as he can.

He’s tall. Baekhyun has to look up at him to meet his eyes in his dream. His hair is red in his dream, a very unnatural shade of it that it has to be dyed. The large ears stick out when Chanyeol looks at him head on. Besides the ears, Baekhyun recalls fearful doe eyes. Maybe they could hold other emotions, but in his dream, Chanyeol was afraid.

And every time Baekhyun wakes up, he’s afraid too.

He chews on his bottom lip as he takes a right into Place Saint-Jéan. Cathédrale Saint-Jéan Baptiste is one of his favourite places to visit in the early morning. It’s usually busy with tourists, but at almost 7 in the morning, Baekhyun is pretty alone.

His mind leaves tall, dream Chanyeol alone for a moment as he takes in his surroundings.

_Where_ is _everyone?_

The square usually has movement at this hour. Storefronts are usually opening, getting ready for tourists. Then again, maybe because it’s nearing December, tourism has gone down so they open later.

Baekhyun nods his head to this assumption as he climbs up the steps. Something causes him to turn over his shoulder. He doesn’t stop moving, because his limbs will freeze. He’s gotten them pretty warmed up.

Besides no one seems to be there.

His eyes scan the plaza again. Paranoia setting in, he takes a left rather than walking around the cathedral. He goes down a small alleyway, the street lamps on.

With his music pounding loud in his ears, his mind begins to settle again. Before long, he’s only focused on the beat in his ears and keeping his pace in time to it. It had taken him a few weeks to create a playlist that had a consistent beat throughout. It was also something else his brain could focus on, something other than the blanks.

Baekhyun nearly jumps twenty feet in the air when a loud screech goes through his headphones, like an old television crackling when it loses signal. He tugs one ear bud out and stares at it in confusion.

_What the hell?_

Then his phone buzzes in his pocket just as he hears a voice in the other headphone still in his ear. It only utters one word before the crackle cuts it off.

“ _Someone—_ ”

Baekhyun glances behind him then down at his phone where he has one message waiting. He can read it on the screen. _I can help you_.

And something in him tells him to run.

As he winds through the streets, trying to put as much distance between him and… whoever is following him, light bulbs seem to just be going out all along the streets. When he turns into alleyways, in the dark, they go pitch black. He’s going off feeling, assuming where steps are, if he’s on stairs or flat surface. Baekhyun has walked these streets before.

Then he realizes that the sun should be coming up, that it shouldn’t be so _dark_. He isn’t even sure where he’s running to, but when he looks up in search of signs of daylight, he’s met by what he assumes is an eclipse.

_A fucking eclipse? Are you serious?_

Baekhyun is almost positive that there isn’t supposed to be an eclipse today, not this morning anyway. What are the odds that whoever’s been following him decides to contact him on the day of an eclipse? When his memory is bringing faces and places to him?

It just doesn’t seem to be his day, because as one more street lamp zaps out as he passes, he hits a gate. A tall, locked gate. His mind calculates quickly how much speed and strength he’ll need to get up and over, but he won’t have enough of either. He slams a hand into the iron and turns around, his back pressed against the bars. His chest heaving, Baekhyun’s eyes follow a small twinkle of light that floats around his head. There are many of them, he notices, as he waits for whoever it is to jump him, mug him, or kill him.

And even though his heart is ready to pound out of his chest, the little flickers of light are soothing.


	5. Marseille, 10:22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had mentioned the pills off-handedly and his friend had freaked out. 
> 
> “Don’t take them.”
> 
> “What?” The only reason he’d mentioned them was because they’d been sitting in front of him on his dining table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has been hidden away in my files for over two years. Going back to it has brought me a lot of joy. :) I'm glad that other people are enjoying it too~~

**Marseille, 10:22**

Junmyeon stares up at his ceiling. His alarm clock goes off for 10:20 and he just lets it ring. There’s really no point in him having an alarm anymore. His mind has been going for the past week. The nightmares started a few weeks ago.

Fine, he can deal with nightmares. But it’s the fact that the nightmares have come to life. One time last week, something happened. While he was making himself lunch, water had exploded out of his hand. Not just squirted, _exploded_. The force of it had caused him to stumble back slightly and then he was staring at a soggy chicken salad. His glass of water and his cup of tea had knocked over, both shattering. Somehow, the force had also broken through his window. He stared in horror down at his palm, which looked the exact same as it always did.

The water currents were uncontrollable. He had no idea where they came from and it tended to happen if he thought about the nightmares too long. He struggled to stop thinking about them, but they were so consistent. There were faces that he recognized, could now see vividly in his mind. There was a lot of dust and a feeling of fear that settled in his bones during the day now.

Last week, when water had just shot right out of his hands, he sat down and drew out the things he could remember. There were nine other boys. As the nights progressed, the boys were wheedled down to eight. A boy with spiked pink hair, not much taller than him, ran along side him for most of the maze.

At some point, they always hit what looks to be an exit. Instead, it’s an invisible wall. No matter how hard they hit it with water and ice, they can’t bust through it. Junmyeon isn’t sure what happens if they don’t get out since he always jerks awake. Sometimes his sheets are wet; sometimes he’s not even in his bed. Every time he’s drenched in his own sweat.

The only silver lining is someone named M calling him every day. While they speak, it soothes his thoughts for a while. M’s voice sounds familiar to him, but he isn’t sure how he knows him. M obviously knows who he is, so Junmyeon feels it rude to ask where he’s met M before.

“Junmyeon?” he’d asked the first day he’d called. No name had appeared on the caller ID, but the _voice…_ Junmyeon couldn’t picture the man on the other end, but the smooth voice settled his nerves.

“Hyung…?”

“Junmyeon, is that you?”

“It is. Uhm… how are you, hyung?”

“It’s M hyung. I’m fine. But how are you? Are you okay?”

Junmyeon had blinked in surprise at that question. Until then, no one had asked him if he felt okay. Could he tell this stranger the truth? The way Junmyeon was talking, the way ‘hyung’ fell off his tongue; he just assumed he knew M. Especially at the time, there had been so much more he couldn’t remember that he would take any conversation at that point.

“I’m… not okay.”

There was rustling on M’s end. “Tell me about it.”

“That’s—”

“Talk to me, Junmyeonie. Just tell me what’s up.”

“It’s… weird.”

“Talk to me,” he’d repeated.

And so he did. He talked about his nightmares, about his day, about living in a large house all on his own. He told M about being lonely, about how he couldn’t remember the majority of his life.

“Do you have siblings?” M prompted one day.

Junmyeon couldn’t remember.

“I have a younger brother,” M shared. “I don’t really talk to him much these days.”

“Why’s that?”

Junmyeon swears that M had said, “To keep him safe,” but his telephone friend spoke louder and said, “Because we just didn’t get along as children.”

Junmyeon never bought the story, because in the stories that M tended to share about himself, some of them included his brother. It sounded as if they had gotten on fine. However, if M didn’t want to talk about his brother, Junmyeon could let him have that.

“But you don’t remember your older brother?” M teased. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy about that, considering you moved out to the middle of France for his company.”

He hadn’t known that’s why he worked in a fancy office. Junmyeon goes to work if he’s up to it and the corporate executives don’t seem to mind that Junmyeon only comes in a handful of days. He has pills he should be taking, so maybe it’s usual that he doesn’t always go into work. Even after learning the reason of his living in Marseille, he still hasn’t amassed enough strength to go to work.

“My older brother…”

“Yeah, you told me about him once,” M said. This was a week and a half ago, a few days before Junmyeon had broken his kitchen window.

For some reason, M hasn’t called the last three days, which is putting Junmyeon’s nerves on edge. He keeps looking at that pill bottle he keeps hidden in his bathroom. It said to take one on the 8th of each month. He skipped a month to see what would happen.

For the first few days, nothing did. So he didn’t bother taking it.

As the 8th of the second month approaches, he’s been considering taking them. What if they’re meant to calm him down? What if there is seriously something wrong with his brain? There’s no information on them telling him why he needs to take them. He has walked all through the house to find some sort of doctor’s note, a prescription of some sort, and has wound up empty handed.

He had mentioned the pills to M off-handedly and his friend had freaked out.

“ _Don’t_ take them.”

“What?” The only reason he’d mentioned them was because they’d been sitting in front of him on his dining table. He’d explained how he had them, but he didn’t know (or couldn’t remember) what they were for.

M had immediately gone into overdrive. “Junmyeonie, whatever you do, don’t put those in your mouth. Don’t swallow them. Put them away. Flush them if you’re ever tempted to take them. Don’t take them, Junmyeonie.”

“Hyung, how do you know they’re bad?”

It took a few minutes for M to answer. “Junmyeonie, can you just… trust me on this? I would never do anything to harm you.”

And Junmyeon believed him, so he didn’t take them.

But now, M hasn’t called him in three days and he’s going insane.

 _Take a walk, Junmyeonie_ , M’s voice says in his head.

Junmyeon takes a deep breath and pushes himself to his feet. His hands have droplets on them, but he wipes them on his pants. Wiping his hands once more for good measure, he heads out the door. There’s a forest behind his house that he has yet to explore. His neighbours, a bunch of girls his age, said that it’s a nice walk. That it almost feels as if the air doesn’t move.

As he passes the garden on the side of his house, he wonders if he can water it. While winter has arrived, it’s been a dry few weeks. The flowers are wilting. He’s tempted to try.

_God, am I really doing this?_

It’s seemed so unbelievable until now. He doesn’t understand science very well; he’s business minded. But he’s positive humans don’t just sprout water out of their hands, not as something other than sweat anyway. Maybe he’s hallucinating. He has pills; maybe he has a mental illness.

Despite all these thoughts, Junmyeon shakes his hands out and then stares at the lines on his palms, wondering where the water even comes from. A deep breath eases his shaking hands a little. Junmyeon isn’t sure how to conjure it up, so he thinks back to how it happened every time before.

While every incident had been out of his control, he knows that the nightmares were a trigger. So he focuses on them, specifically on the pink haired one that he sees the most frequently, the one who can create ice in the palm of his hand.

Then suddenly a ball of water appears in his palm. He’s so surprised that he blinks and it disappears.

 _Damn_.

The idea of hallucination returns, but would he even be able to tell if he was hallucinating?

_Doesn’t matter._

He needs this for his peace of mind right now.

Another deep breath and he focuses on that pink haired guy again. He mentally conjures up a recent dream. The two of them are running when they bump into another boy with dark hair. They check that everyone’s in one piece, they exchange words that Junmyeon can’t hear, and then…

Junmyeon turns his eyes down to the ball of water in his hair. He does all he can to hold it there. The ball of water quivers before it spills through his fingers.

The water is real. He can feel it and he can see it. When he wipes his hands on his jeans, it leaves a stain.

“Okay, I feel a little less crazy,” he mutters. Then he laughs at the irony of talking to himself.

M’s voice tells him to calm right down, that if he believes this is real, why wouldn’t it be real?

_Because I’m talking to myself. Because who can create water in their fingers?_

But he tries again and the water comes a little more quickly. He finds he doesn’t have to think so hard. Before he can lose the water again, he sprinkles it over the flowers. Junmyeon does this as gently as possible since he can bust through windows with this… skill.

 _I’m insane_.

He continues to think this while watering his entire garden. Then he’s crossing the backyard, water spilling through his fingers as he waters the dry grass. It doesn’t take long before he’s at the edge of the forest. There’s a little trail already there. He follows the path, careful not to stray.

His neighbours were right. There’s something about the air that makes time feel distorted. After the few months he’s had, still air feels eerie.

He isn’t sure how much times passes or even how far he’s walked. His heart rate is picking up, though he tries to reassure himself that he can’t have gone far. For a moment, he pauses and does a 360 rotation. Every direction looks similar. If not for the path, Junmyeon would be lost. Luckily, the dry winter has allowed him to leave a wet trail of soil behind him as he goes just in case.

Junmyeon is almost 99.9% sure that he entered the forest alone. There don’t seem to be too many ways in, but forests have four sides. The trees aren’t dense, so he can see for a good distance. Something is _watching_ him. That .1% is telling him that there is someone else in the woods with him.

“Impossible,” he mutters. “There’s no way. Junmyeon, you’re getting even more paranoid.” His voice is steady but, his ears strain for sounds. When he gets nothing, he continues on his way. Suddenly, the forest opens into a clearing, which distracts him for a moment of the spine tingling feeling.

_Is that… a pool?_

As he steps out of the forest, there’s a long crumbling stonewall. Behind the wall are open fields and he wonders where they lead. But what piques his curiosity more is the empty pool, because what the hell is a pool doing here in the first place? He’s been walking for a while, there’s no way it was part of the land he lives on now.

Junmyeon wanders over to the pool, drawn to it as if he needs to just stand in it. The feeling of being watched never leaves him, but he doesn’t really care, especially when he can get the water flowing out of his hands.


	6. Yunnan, 22:12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn’t notice the dead flower that grows back to life as he rides by.

**Yunnan, 22:12**

It’s an unusually dark night. He’d seen on his social media that there was an eclipse happening, but that didn’t seem right. Yixing is someone who likes to watch the news and there was no mention of an eclipse occurring. Eclipses are something science can predict.

But then again, Yixing has never really been a man of science. So even though he checks the sky for an eclipse, the cloud cover is too heavy for him to notice. As he rides his bike through the streets of Yunnan, the busy nightlife quickly turns into quiet alleyways.

It’s all right though. Yixing finds he isn’t scared of the dark. The dark of the alleyway is nothing compared to the dark in his mind. The places his mind disappears to if he thinks too long.

Yixing doesn’t get nightmares. He gets flashbacks. They’re brief and they’re confusing. He isn’t really sure _what_ he’s remembering, just that he _is_ remembering. He took his pill on the 8th, just like the pill bottle he found in his apartment told him to. If his doctor prescribed him medication, there’s probably a reason why he’s taking them. He isn’t sure what he needs help with, but that’s among many things.

However, he’s gotten used to the flashbacks and the odd things around him. When he woke up that fateful First Day, he’d stepped out onto his balcony to get his bearings.

China. He was still in China. Had he ever left China? That’s what he was unsure of. His flashbacks told him yes. The things he could remember didn’t remind him of anything he’d ever seen in China. They reminded him of a desert because of all its dust, but also a haunted mansion because of how dark it was and the shiver he got every time he remembered something.

There was nothing to remember past that First Day. Yixing was positive it wasn’t normal, that there should have been at least 21 years of things to remember. The first few days, he struggled to come up with anything, but eventually gave into the fact that he couldn’t do it. Then he’d found that pill bottle sitting in the windowsill of his bathroom.

_Take on the 8 th of every month._

So he did just that when the 8th rolled around. He seemed fine, but better not to take any chances.

Yixing rides his bike to a tiny four-way intersection in the alleyway. In a swift motion, he hops off his bike and rolls it into the entranceway of the teahouse. It’s empty at this late hour, which isn’t surprising. But a man dressed in white, his head in his hand almost falling asleep, perks up when Yixing taps his forearm.

The man gets up and Yixing finds his usual table at the back of the teahouse. Even though they seem to close early, the man always stays awake long enough for Yixing to get a cup of tea.

He pops his headphones back in as he takes a seat. He’s in the middle of writing a letter to a woman named Eva Lu. Honestly, Yixing has no real idea why he writes to her or why he writes so romantically back and forth with her. The voice he writes in isn’t even his own. Oddly enough, the words came out in a voice he tended to hear in a smoother tone, a more modern dialect than his own.

Eva was a European name. From his correspondence with her, he knew that she lived in Edinburgh. Given her Chinese last name, it was safe to assume that her husband was Chinese. So _why_ was he writing to her like he was in love with her? He knew he held no attachment whatsoever.

The evening of the First Day, Yixing’s phone had pinged. There was an email from a contact in his phone, one of the few in the English alphabet. The email wasn’t typed out like he expected it to be; instead it was handwritten, as if the sender were giving a letter through the actual post.

He’d read the letter, which was written in Chinese. It was clear that Chinese was not her first language and there was English sprinkled throughout. He wondered if they were pen pals despite her speech being very informal. She wrote as if they had been writing back and forth for ages.

She’d written about her kids, two boys, how she was missing him, how she couldn’t wait for him to come home. The youngest was—and Yixing is still not 100% if she just chose the wrong word or if she really meant to write it—starting to levitate things around.

The email became loving, romantic even, at the end.

At first, he figured that she’d sent it to the wrong person. He could feel no attachment to her words, could feel no romantic feelings. He was sure that even if he couldn’t remember anything past that morning that something would tug at him towards his wife and children.

There was no wedding ring on his finger, no sense of family in his home. Until he’d received that email, for those first few hours, Yixing had believed he was pretty much alone.

So he went through his emails from before. They dated back to the middle of 2012, but all the emails were from her. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in his life. He read through the first email and even then he wrote differently. The way he wrote, the words he wrote, none of them seemed like something he would say.

However, he knew the style. He could write back to her in that voice, and a lot of the time, he didn’t realize he was writing as a different person at all until after he’d written to her.

This particular night, she’d sent an email saying she was worried about him.

_It’s been almost three years,_ love _. When are you going to come home? The kids are growing up without you and it’s hard to explain how wonderful they’re becoming at their gifts through words. I can’t send you pictures, you told me not to. I really want you to come home._

 

She always called him love and he called her _baobei._ One time, she had called him Han, so he figured that’s who he was supposed to be. He still wasn’t entirely sure about this life he was living.

He’s written a pretty lengthy letter in response. He’s told her that it’s not time for him to come home yet (why is he actually abroad?). He promises that when he comes home, he’ll never leave the kids alone again, that they’ll be sick of him by the time they grow up.

 

_You are my sunshine. I need you. You are the on…_

He doesn’t get a chance to finish writing his sentence. The screen flickers out. Yixing stares at it, confused. Just then, the man sets a pot of green tea down in front of him. He bows to Yixing before disappearing into the back room. Yixing is usually the last guest, so he knows how to close the place down.

As he pours himself a cup of tea, the lights flicker for a moment.

Suddenly, Yixing is alert, because this feeling is familiar. Last time, he had noticed someone following him. He’d lost them when he’d ducked into the alleyway, but he knows the feeling of being watched now. Looking around, there is no one else in the shop.

In his hand, his phone zaps out and a face appears. In a panic, his phone clatters on the table in his scramble to get away from it. The headphones in his ear also crackle and he jumps at the noise. Electrical circuit malfunction?

There comes the sound of rustling in the room behind him. Yixing doesn’t stick around to wait. He hopes he makes enough noise for the owners to get out as well. His phone forgotten, he dashes out of the teahouse and jumps onto his bike in one fluid motion. He doesn’t notice the dead flower that grows back to life as he rides by. All Yixing is focused on is the prickling feeling at the base of his neck, the feeling of eyes all over his body, and the odd tingling in his fingers. He clenches the handlebars tight in his hands to try to get it to go away.

That face he’d seen comes back to his mind as he turns onto the busy street. He weaves in and out of the crowd. This earns him a few curse words and a few ugly stares.

_Lu-ge_. The name comes to him without any effort.

That was Lu-ge’s face. He has no idea how he knows the name. He doesn’t even know where Lu-ge is now. But he knows he knows the name. The person means something to him.

_Lu_.

_Han._

Did that face belong to Eva’s husband?

Yixing doesn’t get a chance to think about it further, because he can see someone up ahead staring directly at him. He takes a sharp right turn, nearly bowling over a couple in the process.

_Just get away long enough._


	7. Almaty, 20:00

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tell me about it. Why are you crazy?”

Jongdae stretches out on his bed, trying to get that kink out of his back. He spent a lot of last night up on the roof reading and his bones seem to be protesting. Groaning, he rolls onto his side to check the time.

_8:00 o’clock?_

Shit, how has he slept the entire day away?

The past two months, Jongdae has struggled to find any sort of sleeping schedule. There are nightmares that haunt his nights thus he hates sleeping. So he reads. He’s ploughed through so many books that should he read everything he can, he doesn’t know what he’ll do to keep his demons away.

As he moves out from under his covers, he runs his hands through his hair. It’s steadily been lightening to an auburn, but that’s the least of his concerns. Walking through his tiny apartment, he gazes out the window while he makes himself a cup of coffee.

The streets he lives on are dark, but a few streets over, the restaurants are probably bustling with people trying to escape the cold and get in a late dinner. He wonders if he should do the same. It would probably settle the uneasiness he’s experiencing.

He doesn’t remember every dream he has, but when he wakes up in a sweaty mess, he knows that they happened. Deciding that staying in to think about them is a bad idea, he takes his coffee into his bedroom and finds something nice to wear.

Jongdae hasn’t made too many friends in Almaty it seems. The girls at the library recognize him and always smile when they see him, but he wouldn’t say they’re friends. So he tends to eat out on his own.

Winters in Kazakhstan are bitter and he finds he has to wear two to three layers to keep the chill out. With a sweater he picked up off the floor, he finds his favourite tan coat to match. Changing out of his sweatpants, he pulls on a pair of dress pants. Because if he’s going to eat out on his own, he’s going to look good doing it.

Before Jongdae goes out, he heads up to the roof with his coffee in hand. As he winds up the staircase, his mind settles on his nightmare. He’d been alone that time. He remembered the desperation, the need to escape. Usually, it was just him stuck in a small space with dark crumbling walls that threatened to close in on him. It didn’t matter how much he touched the walls for a button he knew was there. He could never find it.

Shivering, not from the cold, he steps out onto the roof. He rubs one hand over his arm as he takes a sip of coffee. The warmth travels down to his stomach and a small smile graces his angular face.

He’s gotten a few comments from locals about how he has good bone structure. So he started reading books on bones. Then he read a book about what people thought was beautiful. This was then followed by him analyzing his face for an hour in an attempt to figure out why his face was appealing to these Kazakstanis.

That’s how Jongdae reads books. If he thinks certain things like ‘oh how do you knit a sweater?’, he’ll spend an hour reading a book about knitting and then try the project himself. Or if he wants to read about magic, because sometimes he feels like he can create thunderstorms whenever he feels like sitting out in a thunderstorm, he’ll spend weeks reading books about magic until he gets bored of the idea.

But if nothing suits his fancy, he knows that there are always science books to interest him. He loves books about quantum physics; the idea of how atoms work in the universe interests him. On occasion, he’ll read about new biological discoveries. And combining the two together, while a rare combination, is like a present at Christmas.

Not that Jongdae can remember any Christmases, though he must have celebrated at least 22 of them.

The roof is bare except for his tiny reading nook in the corner. He wanders over to it, his pile of blankets carefully stowed away in a solid box. He grabs the thickest one and takes a seat. He’s reading a book about mazes, because they’re really fascinating him lately. He read the Maze Runner series. The idea of running through a maze for survival, though, had hit a little too close to home.

Currently, he’s reading about the history of mazes and how they’ve fascinated humans for centuries. Egyptian pyramids are built like they’re own little labyrinths, so that if anyone tried to steal the pharaohs’ treasures, they would get lost and die inside. It seemed that most things written about mazes made them out to be traps, meant to keep people in there forever until they… stopped breathing.

Jongdae drains the last of his coffee. The view from the roof overlooks most of the city. Almaty Tower stands tall in the distance to his left. A soft smile grows on his face. While he doesn’t know anyone and doesn’t seem to have any friends or family outside of Almaty, the view is to die for. The city is quiet and while the winter air bites, he finds he likes the numbness it brings.

Hunger wins out over beauty and he heads down, fingers bright red. As he puts his coffee cup in the sink and collects his wallet, he flicks through his phone. On his collective social media feed, there isn’t much. There are articles about an unexpected eclipse occurring in different parts of Europe. That would explain why it’s unbelievably dark out tonight.

It takes him fifteen minutes to get to the bustling area of Almaty. As he steps off the bus, he walks along o find the quietest place he can find. It’s in the middle of the street, a small pub between two busy restaurants, one a barbeque, the other a French place.

The pub is dark not much lighter than outside. There’s an empty spot at the bar next to a man in a black coat. He slides into the seat, the man’s eyes going over him before looking down at the menu in his hands.

“ _Dinner on your own_?” Jongdae asks in Russian.

The man turns to him, realizing Jongdae is, in fact, talking to him.

_Oh_.

“You’re Korean,” Jongdae states. His voice sounds excited, because it’s rare for him to meet anyone like him and he’s scared that he’s going to lose his Korean. He isn’t sure how long he’s been in Kazakhstan. He isn’t even sure where the hell he learned Russian.

“Wow, yeah, I am. Kim Jo—Kai.”

Jongdae chuckles as he shakes Kai’s hand. “Kim Jongdae.”

The similar last names make Kai smirk too. “What a coincidence.”

Jongdae skims over the menu and orders for both of them. The relief on Kai’s face at not having to figure out what each thing on the menu is makes Jongdae smile wider. “So what brings you to Almaty?”

“Oh.” Kai hesitates for a moment. “I’m travelling.”

“Are you?” Jongdae takes a sip of his water.

“Mm. I was in Scotland two days ago.”

“Scotland all the way to Kazakhstan? That’s kinda far, don’t you think? Why didn’t you go to England or France?”

So Kai explains to him that he’d visited London, England before heading to Edinburgh. He tells Jongdae that capital cities are not his style. “They’re kinda too busy for me. The people are…” He shivers.

Jongdae nods. “I spend a lot of time on my own here, don’t have too many friends. I think it would be nice to get lost in seas of faces. Here, I realize how alone I am.”

“Why did you come to Almaty then?”

Jongdae doesn’t have an answer for that. Shrugging, he lies. “Work.” From what Jongdae has learned, he doesn’t work. No one has called him in if he doesn’t come into work, so he is basically floating through life, reading books, trying to find a purpose in his life. That’s kinda hard to do when he can’t even remember past the First Day.

“Ah, I see. What do you do?” When Jongdae hesitates, his new companion seems to understand and fills the silence. “I met this guy in Edinburgh. He was extremely nice, worked at Edinburgh Castle.”

Now, _this_ is the sort of conversation Jongdae can get into. “What? Like _the_ Edinburgh Castle?”

Kai nods. “Yeah. Nice place for a castle, but Scotland has a lot of those.”

For the most of the evening, the two men talk about Kai’s travels. Jongdae can only talk about the travelling he’s done through books, but Kai asks questions about all the things he’s read about too.

When they get up after their respective meals, it’s nearing midnight.

“Where are you staying?” Jongdae asks as they head out of the pub. The streets have quieted immensely, many of the restaurants closed.

“I don’t have any hotels in mind, but if you could recommend—”

“What? If you have nowhere to stay, of course you’re going to stay with me.”

Kai blinks at the offer. “Hyung, really, I—”

“Do you know how many Korean people I’ve met here?” He quickly answers his own question. “Three. Do you know how many of them were my age? Zero.”

Kai rubs the back of his neck. “Really, hyung, I don’t want to impose.”

“You’re not imposing if I practically have to beg you, Kai-yah. Come on.” Jongdae motions for the younger man to follow him. The buses won’t be running now that it’s late, but it seems that he and Kai have plenty to talk about.

“It’s gonna be a long walk though.”

Kai hesitates to say something, but holds his tongue. “Sure, hyung. That’s fine.”

“So you said you were studying in Toronto.”

“I don’t know if you can call it ‘studying’…”

Jongdae laughs. “So what would you call it then?”

“I’d call it something along the lines of ‘I showed up to school one day, had no idea what I was doing, and now I’m here’.”

“I can understand that. Did you just not want to do school anymore? How did your parents take that?” Jongdae chuckles. “They’re Korean after all.”

“I…” When he looks over at Kai, he can already see the lie on his lips.

“Oh my god, Kai, I’m sorry.” The other lifts his eyebrows up to him in surprise. “I didn’t know that they were…” Jongdae doesn’t want to say _dead_ , because he knows how insensitive that is. However, he’s so out of practice with people that he isn’t sure how to spin the sentence.

“Hyung?”

“I’m so sorry.”

Then it dawns on Kai what the other is talking about. “Oh, hyung, they’re not dead! At least I don’t think so.”

A furrow appears in between Jongdae’s brows. “What do you mean?”

“I… It sounds crazy, but I just don’t know what my parents are doing or even what they look like to be honest.”

The furrow deepens and Kai chuckles bitterly, his eyes turning back down to the pavement. “I don’t know. I struggle with memory problems or something. So I just can’t… remember anything.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, I don’t even know what they look like. If they’re dead…”

“How come you don’t go back to Korea and find out? Why come to Europe at all?”

“Because…” Kai shakes his head. “I sound crazy.”

Jongdae’s eyes tip up to the sky where an eclipse does cover the moon. It’s an incredibly long eclipse; the complete disappearance of the moon usually only lasts a few minutes, not hours. And while he _is_ paying attention to Kai, there’s something tugging at the back of his mind. But he ignores all of these things, because Kai also looks antsy and jumpy.

“Tell me about it, Kai-yah. Why are you crazy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Jongdae's was one of my favourite bits to write. :) Maybe it's because his teaser was my favourite during those long ago Pathcode days.


	8. Berlin, 5:06

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minseok thought of his life as Before and After.

**Berlin, 5:06**

Yawning, Minseok heads down the cobblestone streets. It’s chilly out, but the cold never affected him. With his fuzzy hat on his head to keep his ears warm, walking along the streets of Berlin in his shorts and high socks is enough for him. Glancing over his shoulder and seeing no one, he hops on his skateboard and creates a nice trail of ice to slide along ahead of him.

A large smile grows on his face as he picks up speed. Most people aren’t out and about at 5 in the morning, but someone rounds the corner then. He hops off his skateboard. Behind him, he gets rid of the ice with a flick of his hand, melting it before the woman can slip on it.

Minseok practically skips home. Ice leaves his fingers at different intervals when the alleyways are empty.

He’d met a girl at a restaurant earlier in the evening and they had spent almost the entire night talking. They stayed at the restaurant more for his sake than hers. He definitely wasn’t interested in her the way that she was with him, but his promises to call were enough to move her along at quarter to five in the morning.

Minseok had seen the hopeful look in her eyes when he ushered them out into the cold. She probably expected him to take her home or for him to come home with her. Neither of those things appealed to him. Sure, he’d had girls stay over before, but they tended to ask a lot of questions about why his place was so bare. He spent so much of his time running away that having anyone around was sometimes too much to handle.

When he’d called Junmyeon about a month ago, he had heard the confusion in his best friend’s tone. They’d done it again. Taken the others and ‘studied’ them. He knew that Junmyeon wanted to ask who he was, wanted to ask how they were so familiar. But this had happened about six or seven times since they’d been “set free” four years back.

The first time they’d been set free, they had been given specific instructions to never visit each other. The rules about contacting each other were a little bit looser, but Minseok hadn’t heard from the other boys.

This morning, he called Junmyeon and the two of them talked about the latest girl Minseok had been scoping out.

“Do you just always pick up girls at coffee houses?” Junmyeon demanded.

It was the lighter conversations that loosened Junmyeon’s nerves a little and Minseok could feel Junmyeon unravelling with each phone call. Junmyeon always got very wound up and he was pretty sure it was because of the blank space in his memory. While the horrors from that time were and are real, he’s almost happy that Junmyeon can never remember them.

Because even though Minseok has never been taken back, he still dreams about the maze and that place. He couldn’t understand how it had all turned out so _wrong_.

With a shiver, he lets the ice trail out of his fingers before he thaws them out.

“Girls _love_ being picked up at coffee houses. It fulfills some weird fantasy of theirs, you know?” he chuckled. “You know, coffee houses are romantic, Junmyeonie. I’m telling you, you should go out and meet someone.”

“I’m not really interested.”

Minseok understood him. It had taken him almost a year and a half to even think about living again. But in the four years since he had gotten away, Junmyeon had had to suffer over and over again, the fear of not being able to remember consuming him repeatedly.

He’d also called Sehun a few times, but Sehun rarely picked up. He knew that Sehun had a harder time trusting new people and that was fine by Minseok. He usually answered every year on his birthday and if he could get a hold of Junmyeon, then he knew that his little brother was safe too. So he didn’t tend to worry. While he wanted to reach out to Sehun, to see him and explain, he knew it was safer if Sehun lived a separate life where he didn’t know Minseok existed.

Minseok thought of his life as Before and After. After it all happened, after he had escaped, he had an irritating itch in his forearm. And it had frustrated him to no end. There was medication that he was supposed to be taking and he had no idea why. There were no prescriptions, no symptoms of anything.

So he had gone to a doctor about the itching and then had shown the medication, for a second opinion.

“ _It does look a bit inflamed_ ,” the doctor had said about his forearm. He still had the scar from the surgery.

That German doctor had recommended they do an X-ray just in case. Minseok was worried about having to pay for the surgery, but his doctor assured him that as a citizen of Germany, he would get free healthcare. He seemed surprised that Minseok wasn’t aware of it.

However, Minseok hadn’t _known_ he was a citizen of Germany until that day when his doctor had pulled up his records. He was making a sizeable income from God knows where, but the surgery was covered.

“ _I don’t know if you’re aware that you had a microchip in your arm, Mr. Kim. But it’s been removed and destroyed._ ”

The doctor also explained to him what the pills were. They were a blend he’d never seen before, but some of the ingredients he recognized. And said doctor had recommended against Minseok taking them _especially_ if he couldn’t remember where he’d gotten them from.

“ _This selection of ingredients is used in some memory drugs. You said you were having some issues remembering things. This may be the culprit._ ”

But he knew now where he’d gotten them from, because after the doctor had removed the chip and had told him not to take the pills, his memories had started filtering back. Minseok hasn’t had to worry since then. The only reason he knew that people were still doing experiments was because Junmyeon disappeared. The longest was a month and a half, the shortest a span of two weeks. This last time had been about two and half weeks.

Minseok wonders if Junmyeon’s powers have come back. This time around, Junmyeon promised he wasn’t going to take the pills. And while Junmyeon usually sounds near hysteria most of the time, Minseok believes that he’ll keep his promise. Minseok had learned that the pills tended to suppress whatever powers they possessed.

Two years ago, Junmyeon had been gone for the extra long stint. Minseok almost went hunting for him, because he got so worried. However, when Junmyeon had _finally_ picked up the phone a month and a half later, Minseok could hear how frightened Junmyeon was.

It had taken a few days, as it usually did, for Junmyeon to trust him again.

“What’s going on?”

“Everything is so _wet_ ,” Junmyeon had cried.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know! My hands keep… God, I sound _insane_.”

Minseok never told Junmyeon that he could make ice out of his _own_ hands, because he wasn’t sure what went on back in the Facility when they took Junmyeon. It wasn’t hard to trace calls and while Minseok had gotten a “friend” to make his phone near impossible to trace, those people definitely had the technology to do it.

He would switch his phone every once in a while, made sure to _never_ tell Junmyeon what his real name was. He just went by his first initial, which could be a major tell because it seemed that Junmyeon didn’t stray too far from his house.

That time, two years ago, Minseok had asked Junmyeon to tell him about his powers. Then he had been careful, switched his phone so often that his “friend” almost stopped seeing him, so that he could tell Junmyeon _exactly_ how to get his powers to work to his advantage.

He’d never done it again, because the next time Junmyeon had disappeared a few months later, his panic was at its ultimate peak. They had given him something stronger, because Minseok had to work harder to get Junmyeon to trust him and had to work harder to get him to remember small bits of his life. Minseok always made sure that Junmyeon had real pieces of himself to hold on to when he went away, even if he lost them every time. They were nice to come back to.

As Minseok ducks into his newest apartment—he tends to move around a lot just in case—he heads up the steps, turning up the volume of his music as he goes. The third floor seems like a long ways away from the dingy lobby. His limbs are crying out for him to rest, but he refuses to stop until he gets up to his apartment.

The apartment is nothing fancy, but when he has girls over, they don’t tend to linger on how bare it is. As long as his bed is nearby, they have no issues staying over.

Just as he’s about to hike up the last flight, a man dressed in all black bumps into him. Minseok watches him go, because _ouch_ that kinda hurts his already tired limbs. He watches the man go, but he doesn’t seem to be bothered. Not feeling like getting into anything at 5 in the morning, Minseok lets it go.

When he _finally_ gets to yank his apartment door open, he heads into the kitchen for a glass of water. He almost drinks the entire glass in one breath, but stops himself as he chucks all his things by his couch and collapses onto it. Minseok’s limbs sigh in relief and he leans his head against the back of the couch.

The remote isn’t hard to find, because it’s always on his couch. He’s going to fall asleep to television programs. It sounds like a brilliant idea. He turns it on to one of his favourites. Minseok tends to stay awake at odd hours, so he catches either the end of the late night television or the beginning of the news channels.

The hum of conversation on the screen lulls Minseok into that space between wake and sleep. It’s good he’s downed most of the water, because he might spill it on himself.

Then the television hums at a high decibel, which gets him to sit up. On the screen, everything is going fuzzy.

_Maybe the signal is bad?_

However, he can see… a face on the screen. Not in the terrifying sense like he’s about to be possessed or something, but an open face. It’s a street. It’s definitely not the program he’d been watching.

Minseok moves closer to pick out the person on the screen, because holy shit, it can’t be. His fingers trace out the fuzzy features he hasn’t seen in years.

But then it hits Minseok, almost all at once, what it means to be seeing Sehun on his screen.

_They couldn’t have…_

“No,” he breathes as he thinks back to that man who’d bumped into him. “Sehun-ah.” The glass he’d still been holding freezes as he tosses it aside and he runs for his passport and then straight out the door again.


	9. Colorado, 9:01

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And maybe Kyungsoo's existence is the worst of all because he knows why he's lonely.

**Colorado, 9:01**

Kyungsoo’s eyes slowly open to the bright sunlight streaming through his open window. His cheeks are damp from the tears he’d shed last night. Quickly, he swipes at his cheeks, because waking up crying isn’t anything new anymore.

It’s been almost three months.

The first month, he took that pill and all it did was make the memories fuzzy. It didn’t stop the memories from flooding back. He forewent the second month, because fuck, it probably wouldn’t do anything else. The dose, once again, wasn’t strong enough.

He pushes his head into his pillow; maybe he can suffocate. Except _no_ , because the longer his eyes are closed, the more he thinks about those horrid places, terrified faces, and the helpless feeling.

And Kyungsoo refuses to let that be the last thing he remembers when he dies. So he hoists himself out of bed to face another day.

It’s a lonely existence. His memories of anyone else besides those at the Facility are hazy at best. Between his fear of being taken away and the fear of letting his strength overpower him like it sometimes does, he knows it’s safer to stay in the apartment building he lives in.

Maybe it would be better if he had actual neighbours. They would force him to interact. But no, the government figured that Kyungsoo living on his own would be ideal. He could be anywhere he wanted in the world, could own three mansions if he asked for them (probably).

Instead, he lives in an apartment building, only really occupying one suite and the garden. The rest of the suites are collecting dust. Sure, he’ll sweep through them just because he needs something to do, but otherwise, no one steps foot in there.

He has no visitors. In the last four years, he’s only really known the other boys and the nurses. Although, he’s been back to the Facility so many times that he isn’t sure if the nurses are real people anymore. Who would willingly work with stressed out men with superpowers? Nothing good can come from it.

Kyungsoo fights against wanting to be able to keep his own mind, but also wanting to forget. As he stands in the shower, warm water sliding off his back, he wonders if Minseok has been able to avoid being caught. He hasn’t seen Minseok in a long time and he wonders if Minseok lives with survivor’s guilt like he does.

Even though the other boys are alive, spattered all over the globe, Kyungsoo knows they don’t remember. Whatever they do is too fuzzy to comprehend.

There’s also always the flicker of hope that it’s all a really bad, vivid dream. So just like every other day, he strikes the bathroom wall. Unfortunately, the outcome is the same and the blue tile crumbles a bit. Along the wall, Kyungsoo’s handprints have left crumbling bathroom tile. His hand curls into a fist before stepping out of the shower.

The red-haired man heads towards the kitchen, towel slung low on his hips. Furiously, he rubs another against his hair. The towel blocks his vision, but he spends his entire day in this apartment. He could be blind and still navigate this place.

As he peers into the fridge, the sight causes Kyungsoo to sigh. He only has a small bit of kimchi left. God, he’s going to have to go grocery shopping.

An uncomfortable feeling goes through his body like a tremor. At the grocery store down the street, there’s one cashier who is _always_ there. She talks to him as if he’s a lost child, which to her he must be. He realizes that he does look younger than most of the men his age in the vicinity.

Resigned to the idea that he is going to have to go outside, Kyungsoo pours himself a bowl of cereal and takes it with him to the bedroom. The towels falls to the floor as he begins dressing himself while eating, a talent that he’s quite proud of (not that he has anyone real to share it with).

Without much to do or anyone to talk to, he’s always trying to see what sort of weird shit he can do. The cooler things involve balancing a glass of water on his forehead. There are the classics like tossing food into the air and catching it (he can do it with his eyes closed now). He’s knitted an afghan (and never picked up his knitting needles again). He managed to wrap himself in duct tape and rip himself out of it.

A lot of his life has become a series of breaks. He’s on a break right now, because Kyungsoo has been reduced to a test subject. Without initially realizing, he succumbed himself to this weird life. There’s a sinking feeling that he’s stuck living like this forever. When they take him away, there’s no warning; it just sort of happens and he’ll wake up in a gurney.

“Don’t think about that right now,” he mutters to himself as he swallows the last of his breakfast.

Kyungsoo scoops the towels off the floor to hang in the bathroom. He sets the bowl with a tiny bit of milk on the counter as he fiddles with his hair. The sides have grown out a little, so he’ll probably have to shave them later. The top has always had a nice bounce to it, which makes styling easy. He’s not looking for volume; he’s looking for shape. (Another one of the talents he’s acquired is doing hair. One time, he bought a mannequin head to practice women’s hairstyles, because there’s only so much one can do with short hair.)

After one swipe of his hand through his hair, Kyungsoo finds his wallet, a mental list already thought up. This list is the same every single month, so it’s not too hard to come up with it. Sometimes, he has the urge to venture out and add more things so that he can try other recipes. However, _that_ requires spending more time in the store and Kyungsoo refuses to stay longer than twenty minutes if he can help it.

Carefully, he tucks his wallet into his back pocket and then heads down the stairs. As he walks through the hall of the first floor, he passes the pink door. God, he really hates this door, but he always slows in front of it.

Kyungsoo knows how many rules of earth and laws of physics this door breaks. He isn’t sure how it works, but he knows it’s not normal. The only people he’s ever considered friends are not normal either. And he wonders if that has to do with anything. Because when he looks through the small grated peephole, he can see their lives. He can catch glimpses of them and see that they’re all okay.

The door rarely shows him Minseok, but he knows he’s out there somewhere and Minseok hyung could always take care of himself. So he’s not too worried.

The urge to check is too much for him and he rests one hand against the familiar worn paint. He wants to see those faces again, all the names he knows but can never say because it makes him sad. Kyungsoo is just a walking ball of sadness and it’s slowly driving him to insanity.

One eye peers into the peephole and as if it’s working backwards, the view goes into tunnel vision. He watches as the view turns into a small ranch. Chanyeol is pacing back and forth, yelling at his girlfriend for answers she can’t give.

The view quickly changes to Jongin hurrying along Spanish streets. He always did find his way back to the Spanish heat. He claimed the food was the best there. You know, if he could remember that he’d been there. Sometimes the breaks between trips to the Facility are too short for Jongin to make it to Spain.

Kyungsoo blinks and suddenly, he’s staring right at Sehun. The younger man is running. There are no sounds with these pictures, but he can pick out the heave in Sehun’s chest. It doesn’t look like the streets Sehun lives on or even the castle that Sehun works at. So where is he and why does he look scared? Kyungsoo’s heart aches, because _God,_ that can’t be a good sign.

He doesn’t get to find out what has Sehun so terrified, because his view switches to Lyon. Kyungsoo recognizes these streets. The second time he’d left the Facility, the time just before he realized that he was probably never truly escaping that place, Kyungsoo managed to hunt Baekhyun down.

Before Kyungsoo got sucked into this life, he had had no idea who Baekhyun was. But inside the Facility, he was the sun that shone and made everyone’s day a little bit brighter. The one promise that Baekhyun had given everyone was this: Even if I don’t remember your name, if you can find me, we’ll stay together.

Finding Baekhyun had been difficult. He knew the streets were European, but he didn’t know which parts of Europe they had plopped Baekhyun. So he’d waited a few weeks, peering into the door and only resting when his legs got tired or his head started spinning. He was only shown the boys in about one to five second intervals, so he rested until Baekhyun appeared again.

Kyungsoo had stood there for hours trying to amass clues. Eventually, a sign had appeared and Kyungsoo was able to do research on his computer. He could narrow it down. After the third time, when they were taken together, Kyungsoo felt the stronger dose. It took him a little longer to get his mind completely cleared again, but he knew, after checking again, that Baekhyun was having a harder time with things. He saw Baekhyun break down a few times that he vowed to never do it again.

This time, his glimpse of the Lyon streets is only a second long this time, but it’s long enough to see the floating lights around Baekhyun. Kyungsoo’s sharp intake is heard and noticed by no one.

_No, no, no, no._

Junmyeon’s is only a split second, but Kyungsoo watches as water surges out of Junmyeon’s palms in waves. The direction is obvious. It’s heading towards where Kyungsoo would be standing if he were actually there.

_Holy fuck._

Even Yixing’s view is short. There isn’t much to see in Yunnan, but Yixing is on his bike. Kyungsoo is used to the blurred views when he sees Yixing, but this time there’s a catch in his throat. Kyungsoo hates the reason the streets are darker and blurrier than usual.

_God, please._

When he gets to see Jongdae, Jongdae is running too; but his surrounding is totally different. Kyungsoo has been able to narrow Jongdae’s general area down to somewhere in Eastern Europe. He’s not sitting in his reading nook, reading about God knows what. He’s not even out and about struggling to make friends. The streets look more modern. Kyungsoo knows those streets. They’re American.

_New York?_

Jongdae’s world shifts and Kyungsoo watches in horror as Jongdae pushes through the crowds, glancing over his shoulder constantly.

One last snap and fuck, Kyungsoo hasn’t gotten the last snap in a long while. It’s Minseok.

“Hyung, no,” Kyungsoo whimpers.

He watches in horror as Minseok speeds down his stairwell. Nothing is ever recognizable when he sees Minseok. He has no idea where Minseok has plunked himself. He might have moved himself out of the country the Facility placed him in.

No, that’s not what matters. What matters is that Minseok is using his powers and is sliding down stairs. He knows Minseok used the powers he’d been given, but not like this. Not without being careful no one would see him. Minseok made beautiful things with his snow and ice, but what he was doing now was nothing like that.

He gets to watch more of Minseok as he keeps the ice moving under his feet, gaining traction. It’s giving him speed. The flash of a passport in his hand lets Kyungsoo know Minseok saw something that he shouldn’t have. That means that someone planted something on him to get him out of hiding. Nothing would have urged Minseok out like this.

The last snap is the Facility and Kyungsoo screams. He stumbles back into the opposing wall. His legs give out and he slides down to sit on the floor. He’s been taken many times, but he’s never been warned of it like this. The knowing and the inevitability terrify him.

_They got Minseok hyung. They lured him out._

Kyungsoo knows that Sehun and Minseok are siblings. What are the odds that two brothers would show up for an ad looking for healthy humans? Kyungsoo remembers the shock on their faces when they had seen each other, standing beside other people. Most of them had come alone that day and there had been ten of them, not nine.

He wasn’t sure what happened to Zitao. He was tall with dark circles under his eyes. His hair had been blond at the time. Kyungsoo had found him intimidating then. Now, Kyungsoo was more afraid of himself than anything else.

When they had been dispersed the first time, Zitao had been on the plane. He never saw the tall man again, not even through the door.

Kyungsoo’s eyes close as he hears the front door open down the hall. He could have been up in his suite, working on his newest project (he was trying to learn how to design a robot) and been unexpectedly taken like usual. Now, he is a literal sitting duck, waiting to go again.

“Do-ssi,” a woman’s voice says down the hall.

Kyungsoo doesn’t stand. They’ll pick him up if they need to; Kyungsoo doesn’t have the energy to get himself up anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm excited for the next chapters after this. :D   
> Also thanks to the people who give kudos and are reading. A million hugs for all~


	10. Day 1, 17:23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyungsoo returns to the Facility and he probably wants to throw up a little.

**PART TWO: WELCOME TO THE FACILITY**

 

**_Day 1, 17:23_ **

The world slowly comes into view. The ceiling is pure white and the air smells like antiseptic. As Kyungsoo’s vision begins to clear, his body relaxes. He knows what’s about to happen. He’s an anomaly they had created. His head tips back. Four nurses this time. They all have a hand on the gurney and he isn’t strapped down yet. Slowly, he sits up and watches the double doors come closer.

The third or fourth time he was brought back, he’d tried to run away. No go. He has never seen so many nurses since, and at that time, he’d never had more nurses tending to him. He never did it again.

As they roll him through the double doors, Kyungsoo recognizes the dorm they keep him and four other boys in. His gurney presses up against the far wall and then they wordlessly start strapping him down. For only a moment, he considers resisting. However, he knows that the first tests always send him into fits. He also knows that no one understands why.

“Hello, Do Kyungsoo,” one of the nurses finally says. She acquired a tablet at some point and now stands next to his left arm. “I am Nurse Three.”

Kyungsoo remains mute.

“Do you know where you are?”

_Play stupid._

“A hospital?”

“Of sorts,” she answers. “We’ll be taking care of you for the next little while, Do-ssi. We have given you a number and we’ll refer to you as such.”

Kyungsoo already knows the number, but she tells him anyway.

“You’re Number 12.”

“Why can’t you use my name?” Kyungsoo asks.

“For ease of use. There will be other patients and it is more efficient to keep track of you all this way.” She glances down at him through her red visor. The visors are meant to distance themselves in some way, likely so no one gets attached, because no way in hell is any of this legal.

Kyungsoo struggles to keep himself as calm as possible. Knowing what’s coming, it’s difficult to play clueless. But he needs to pretend that he believes they’re ‘helping’ him.

“Would you rather I call you by your name, Do-ssi?” she asks as she scribbles something on the tablet screen.

He said yes to this question once and found that it scared him more. It made it more real and it made it difficult to turn his mind off. “Whatever is easiest for you. You’re helping me, right?”

“Of course. Number 12, then,” she states. “We’re just going to take your vitals today, Number 12. The real testing will start tomorrow.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“We believe you have a genetic mutation,” she replies. Nurse Three says it as if he has the common cold.

To be fair, Nurse Three has been working with him for years, so she must consider his ‘genetic mutation’ similar to the common cold anyway. He hasn’t died from it yet, so there’s something. If he hasn’t died from it yet, it can’t be that terrible.

“Am I healthy otherwise?”

Nurse Three doesn’t answer. She reads his vitals off the monitor next to him. The steady beat of his heart is comforting, but that eventually drives him insane every time he comes. Without fail. For now, he revels in the sound. There will soon be other heartbeats in the room, and they’ll all somehow find a matching rhythm. That’s what makes it a hundred times worse.

“Well, Number 12, I think you’re in optimal health all things considered.”

“Considering what?”

She ignores that question. “We’ll be back with your dinner. Tomorrow will include physical tests.”

“Oh.”

She tilts her head and Kyungsoo rearranges his expression.

“I mean…” His eyes look around the room. “Do I get all this space to myself?”

Nurse Three follows his gaze before turning back to him. “Would you like to walk around?”

He’s never made such a request before, but if he’s just going to keep returning, might as well test the boundaries every time and keep this woman on her toes.

“If I’m allowed. Am I well enough?”

She exchanges looks with the other nurses. “Number 12, we will unstrap you, but you will not be allowed to leave the room.” Her eyes narrow. “Is that understood?”

“Perfectly.”

With a nod of her head, he’s released from his restraints and finds he’s able to relax more. Casually, he lets his eyes go around the room again. He counts six cameras. No way out of here then without being seen. Nurse Three is about to leave, but stops. Kyungsoo wonders if she’s going to talk to him again before he notices the earpieces in their ears. They leave the room abruptly, leaving Kyungsoo alone again.

The heart monitor bleeps out his heart rate, so he tries to remain as calm as possible. All he really wants to do is scream. Like a child, he pounds his fists into a pillow, because he can’t do anything else without giving himself away.

_Please just let everyone else be okay._

**_Day 2, 7:25_ **

The next morning, Kyungsoo finds himself being prodded awake. As he sits up, his brain is fuzzy and he can’t remember anything from yesterday. Above him, women in red visors are watching him.

“Morning, Number 12.”

“M-morning.”

Kyungsoo peers up at her, but can’t distinguish any features. He shakes his head.

“I’m Nurse Three, your nurse.”

“Oh. Okay. Where am I?”

Nurse Three brushes past his questions and begins to discuss the tests he is going to perform today. “We’re going to start in here, but we will have to strap you down, Number 12.”

Obediently, Kyungsoo lies down. His breath picks up as they strap down his arms and legs.

“Calm down, please, Number 12.” Nurse Three is standing next to his heart monitor as the others set up. His heart rate has sped up slightly. The sleeve of his white long sleeve is pushed up so that they can insert an intravenous. He winces when they miss his vein, but more from the bruises that haven’t quite healed over from something else.

“Alright, we are going to test your strength, Number 12.”

Kyungsoo’s doe eyes turn up to her. He still can’t tell the nurses apart. Nurse Three is distinguishable, because she does all the talking and is holding a tablet. “Test my strength?”

“We are going to pass a current through your body, which will seize your limbs. Your only job is to regain control again.”

“A current? Like an e-electric current?” That doesn’t sound good.

“Yes.” As she says this, electric probes are placed along his body.

“This w-won’t… kill me?”

“Your health is of utmost importance, Number 12. Nothing will be permanent.”

That _also_ doesn’t sound promising, but he doesn’t have many choices here. Resigning to his fate, he takes a deep breath and rests his head back down on the bed. A shiver runs through his body before they’ve even started.

The first few times aren’t so bad, similar to a tingling in his nerves. Getting control of his limbs again is simple enough. However, the pain starts to increase and he can feel his body locking up before he can fire his nerves differently to straighten his body out again.

The final one causes Kyungsoo’s body to snap. The electric current is too strong and his body spasms. Even after the probes are taken off, the electric currents stopped, the body can’t relax. He struggles against the binds and they dig into his skin as the currents meddle with his nerve endings and he undergoes a seizure. It happens every time, so they wait it out. They know what they’re doing.

Breathing heavy, Kyungsoo’s body rests further to the right side, his left hand straining against the constraint. “Undo him and check his vitals. Give him more of the medication. We’ll run his next test at noon,” Nurse Three orders. “Number 88 has come in.”

She exits the room and meets Nurse Forty down the hall. “Kim Jongin?”

“They just brought him in.”

Nurse Three calls out to one of the other nurses guarding a door nearby. All doors are guarded when the test subjects return. “Set up another bed in Number 12’s room.”

“Is it a good idea to pair them together?” Nurse Forty asks as they turn a corner.

“They tend to calm each other down. They share too much, but that’s something medication can remedy. We’ve decided to put Number 88, 94, 10 and 1 together.”

Nurse Forty pulls a door open that opens up to a stairwell. “94 and 88… Were we not warned that they had met each other this last time?”

“It’s happened a few times,” Nurse Three agrees as they head up. “But it doesn’t seem to affect them. The medication works too well for them to piece it together.”

Before entering the lobby of the Facility, she pulls her red visor off and sets it down on the miniature table next to the door. She looks to Nurse Forty to do the same and the two of them step out to meet their newest arrival. Her serious demeanour changes once through the door. The lobby is all glass windows and inviting modern furniture.

The five people assigned to Jongin haul him in and he does not look happy. When he sees the nurses walking towards him, he demands, “Where am I and what do you want with me?”

“We want to help you, Kim Jongin,” Nurse Three says calmly.

Jongin is about to go on a tirade, but her statement stops him before he can take a breath. “Help?”

“Welcome,” she says, bowing low. “I am Choi Yeona. We’ve heard much about you and were curious to learn about your abilities. Here in the Facility, we study the anomalies of other people like you.”

“O-other people?” Jongin wants to answer her, but all he seems capable of doing is echoing her. She doesn’t seem to notice or care.

“Kang-ssi and myself are nurses here. We refer to ourselves in numbers as we find it more efficient.” Jongin’s eyes narrow at this. “There are many nurses here; it would be difficult to remember them all.”

Jongin doesn’t question why _names_ of all things would be difficult to remember.

Nurse Three motions for him to follow and guides him down a different hallway. This hallway looks just as inviting as the lobby, less like a hospital and more like a science center or museum. The right side of the hall is lined with windows that overlook beautiful gardens. Jongin stares at the mountain range in the distance, the sun rising through them.

“There are other people like me?”

“There are other people with odd abilities, yes,” Nurse Three answers.

Jongin glances at the people in black following behind them. Their reflection in the window offsets the picturesque view. The woman he’s met time and time again, who has introduced herself as Chaerin, walks directly behind him. Every slight movement she copies. He isn’t getting away this time.

“You can teleport, Jongin-ssi, yes?” Nurse Three asks, distracting him from Chaerin.

“Yes.”

They step into an open room. It looks like a gymnasium. There are wooden sticks lined up neatly in the far corner and various sports balls on racks at the opposite end of the room.

“Would you mind demonstrating for us?” Nurse Three asks him now. Nurse Forty stands next to her. Jongin already understands the hierarchy, but he isn’t about to show them what he can do. The only person who’s seen it is Jongdae.

So instead, he juts a finger back towards his five ‘bodyguards’. “They can vouch for me.”

Nurse Three glances over his shoulder, but meets his eye again. “We would prefer a live demonstration, Jongin-ssi. It helps us determine a game plan to help you.”

“How are you going to help me?” Jongin counters. “Because all I’ve been is stalked for nearly three months now before being jumped. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

“Jongin-ssi, I apologize if Chaerin and her team injured you in any way.”

Jongin shows her the spot on his neck where someone had used a Taser. “I’ve been running for months, you’ve incapacitated me, and now I want answers. What do you want from me?”

“We want to understand your ability better. There are other people like you out there, Kim Jongin, scared and confused at what they can do. You are the answer. We can provide them with guidance, but we need to understand how your gift works.”

She motions with a hand towards the free space in the gymnasium, the speech repetitive now. It usually doesn’t take much more than this to convince Kim Jongin to display his skill to her. As per usual, he plays his part perfectly. In a blink, Jongin appears at the opposite corner of the room. He grabs a basketball and teleports himself right by the basket, landing gracefully on his feet.

Nurse Three and Nurse Forty exchange looks. He’s been practicing. Every time Jongin comes in, the initial use of his power is always impressive. The grace in his movement (or lack thereof), the seamless way he moves through space, it all seems so natural.

“We can use that,” Nurse Three mutters. She smiles at him and says at a louder volume, “Are you willing to help us, Kim Jongin?”

Jongin hesitates for only a second. “What do you want me to do?”

Nurse Three motions for him to follow along. They step through a doorway and that’s when Chaerin stops shadowing him. She grabs his wrist for a moment and he lifts an eyebrow in response. Her lips hardly move, but he hears her.

“See you again, Jonginie. Be careful.”

Then she lets go and Jongin is left staring at her confused. The footsteps of the nurses stop as they realize he isn’t coming. They’re in a stairwell and Jongin descends after them, engulfed in darkness.

The next floor is not as welcoming as the first. It has a hospital feel about it. There seems to be endless corridors and too many rooms. He wonders what they use them all for. He didn’t notice the two women acquiring red visors, but he doesn’t ask about it. They lead him into another room, which is painted all in white. There are windows on each wall, the room forming the shape of a hexagon. Each window has its blinds down and he understands why when one of the women passes him a white uniform. With the visors, it’s hard to differentiate.

“Please change into these and leave your clothes on the floor. We’ll tend to them. We will explain more as we go along.”

The nurses step out of the room, leaving Jongin to analyze the situation as quickly as he can. His clothes drop to the floor as he tugs on the uniform. The neck is high. His fingers skim over the stitching. It feels like the number 88. The prickling feeling at the back of his neck has not gone away. It almost seems as if it’s gotten _worse_ since he’s stepped down here.

Before going to the door, he circles the room. Carefully, he pulls one of the blinds down slightly. The nurses are standing outside talking, consulting tablets. As he crosses the room, he checks the other hallway. There are other women dressed the exact same as the two he’d met.

Jongin closes his eyes for a moment and tries to teleport back to London, because he just has to know. And just as he suspected, it doesn’t work. He is still in the room. This is the first time it hasn’t worked. As soon as he walked down those steps, something in his body shifted. His body is heavier and his mind is clouded slightly.

With a smile, he steps out of the room, because he has literally nowhere else to go. “What now?”

Only one nurse waits for him. A small smile tips the corner of her mouth, but it’s so faint that he isn’t sure if it’s really there. “As I said earlier, everyone here is numbered. I am Nurse Three.”

Jongin bobs his head in understanding.

“Nurse Forty will be your attending nurse,” she informs him. She shows him different rooms, a gym, a cafeteria. They’re all designed the same way, white, metallic, sterile. “You will be Number 88 from now on, Jongin-ssi.”

Jongin’s mind flicks to the number at his neck. They’d already had this ready for him. They had given him this specific outfit.

_Stay calm, Jongin._

“Okay.”

Nurse Three pauses for a moment before asking, “Would you like to go through a few tests first? Or would you rather see your room and rest?”

“I want… to rest first,” he answers.

She nods and turns down a different hallway. At the end of the hall, Jongin can see large double doors, as if he’s going to enter a hotel kitchen. Just like the other rooms he’s seen save for the gym, this one is hexagonal as well. He tries not to stare at the body that’s lying on the hospital bed directly across the door. He notices the empty bed pressed into the wall next to him.

Nurse Three turns to him, her voice low. The patient must be sleeping. “Alright Number 88, this will be your room. You will get a meal at noon and we will escort you to the test site.”

Jongin nods his head slowly. “May I ask a question?”

She nods once.

“Why can I not teleport out of here?”

Now he’s sure of her smile, but it looks more like a sneer. “Ah, we have extra protections around the Facility. It makes it a little more difficult to use your powers in here. But the rooms are special, so you’ll be able to use them indoors.”

“So I’ll only be able to teleport inside of a room? I can’t teleport outside of it.”

With a wave of her hand, she allows him permission to try if he would like. So he closes his eyes. Again, there’s a blockage in his mind, an invisible entity not allowing him to budge. When he opens his eyes, she’s smiling. “There are certain measures placed around certain rooms. We will show you which rooms you’ll be allowed to use your skill in.”

“Oh.” Jongin’s tongue runs along his bottom teeth. “Alright.”

She starts towards the door. “You remember your nurse, yes?”

“Nurse Forty,” he recites.

“Wonderful. Have a good rest, Number 88.”

Jongin leaves his head bowed until the door shuts behind her. Then he turns his attention to the room. Monitors surround the other man, sounding out his heartbeat and keeping track of his other vitals. Jongin wanders up to him, curious to know whether the man is sick or if he’s also got powers. One of the nurses did say that he wasn’t the only one.

The man is curled onto his side. His red hair with shaved sides should give him a hard look. However, his angelic looking face counters the scary factor. Jongin studies him up close and notices that his right hand is going a little bit blue. Carefully, he adjusts the man, rolling him onto his back so that he isn’t cutting off circulation.

Except as soon as Jongin touches him to move him, the other man’s hand strikes out and gets him in the throat. His hand squeezes before his eyes open and Jongin can feel his oesophagus about to crush. Jongin struggles against him, trying to pry the man’s hand off, but he releases him instead.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” he says.

The man’s doe eyes are an abnormal shade of blue. Jongin can’t stop staring at them. “Your… uhm… eyes?” The man blinks at him. Jongin can now see the number on his collar. _12_. “Uh, Number 12, your eyes are… glowing.”

Instantly, the man’s hands cover his eyes and Jongin watches his eyebrows shoot up at what he must see.” God, it’s happening already.”

“What’s happening?”

He starts to open his mouth, but shuts it before he can say anything. His glowing eyes meet Jongin’s. “Okay, they haven’t done anything to you yet.”

Jongin’s brow furrows. It feels as if this man is speaking in code.

“Please call me by my name. I’m Do Kyungsoo.”

“Kim Jongin.”

Kyungsoo nods his head, but that seems to tire him out. He lies back down on the bed and rubs his wrists. Jongin studies him as he closes his eyes.

“When did you get here, Jongin?”

Jongin glances at the sole clock in the room above Kyungsoo’s bed. “Less than an hour ago.”

Kyungsoo hums. “Have you met your nurse?”

“Briefly.” The room quiets for a moment. “How long have you been here?”

“Only a day.”

With this answer, Kyungsoo opens the floodgate. “Why are your eyes that colour? Why are you here? What’s wrong with your wrists?”

Kyungsoo is hesitant on how much he ought to share. He’s had to share a room with Jongin many times now. Each time, Jongin tends to ask the same questions or variations of them. He’s tried different responses and has found that Jongin responds best when Kyungsoo is as honest as he can be without giving himself away.

“What’s wrong with my eyes?” Kyungsoo asks.

“They’re _blue_.” Jongin moves closer to his face and Kyungsoo slowly pulls away. “Like not a normal blue.”

“They glow in the dark,” Kyungsoo confirms.

Jongin’s eyes widen in response to this. He sits at the end of Kyungsoo’s bed. “That doesn’t scare you?”

Kyungsoo shrugs, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s probably a side effect.”

Jongin stares hard at him, but Kyungsoo refuses to look at him. Kyungsoo pretends that his body hurts, which it does a little. The seizures tend to take a toll on him.

“Kyungsoo hyung,” Jongin says. This elicits no response, but he continues anyway. “Why are you here?”

“Same as you.”

“You can teleport?”

“Okay, not _exactly_ the same.”

Jongin waits for more, but Kyungsoo doesn’t offer anything more. Instinct tells him that the man doesn’t want to go into that. So he shifts the conversation to a different topic, which Kyungsoo appreciates.

“What happened to your wrists?”

So it hasn’t strayed _too_ far from the other topic, but Kyungsoo wants to prepare Jongin as much as he’s allowed to. “Uhm, they had me go through some tests this morning. I get, uh, seizures.” As an afterthought, he adds, “Apparently.”

The expression on Jongin’s face freezes and Kyungsoo isn’t sure how to go on. He knows what he can tell Jongin, he knows how much the boy can take without breaking down. It’s just a matter of building up to everything. He can’t unload everything onto him at once. So he decides to leave it there. He rolls onto his side, facing the wall.

“You might want to rest before your first test.”

“Hyung?” Kyungsoo waits as Jongin slides off, which shifts the weight of the bed. “Is it just going to be us here?”

“Just us?”

“There’s a lot more space for other people.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer him right away. “I don’t know.”

“Will we all be hooked up like you?”

Jongin loves the freedom his power gives him. Kyungsoo could watch Jongin hop the whole globe if he stared through that door long enough. To know that he’d have to be hooked to a heart monitor and IV for part of his stay is far from ideal. So Kyungsoo decides to leave that part as an unpleasant surprise. He won’t remember anything tomorrow anyway. They somehow always get Jongin’s dose right.

“I don’t know that either.”

“I hope not.”

“Yeah.” The heart monitor pumps out a quicker beat for a few seconds before Kyungsoo can control it again. “Yeah, it’s not fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fun stuff starts now~~ I hope the intro to the Facility isn't TOO confusing.


	11. Day 2, 12:30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A full day in the Facility brings more questions than any of them are used to.

**Day 2, 12:30**

Jongin jumps out of his skin when someone taps him awake. He’d struggled to entertain himself. He hadn’t even realized he’d fallen asleep. As his eyes open, Jongin sits up quickly, scooting back as far away as he can. A woman with a red visor is standing over him. Attached to him is and IV and he can hear a steady thrum matching his heartbeat.

“You’re awake, Number 88.”

Jongin blinks, not understanding. “Where am I?”

“In the Facility,” she says patiently. “You came to get help.”

“Right.” The details of the morning are hazy. His eyes go around the room and everything seems as if it’s in hyper focus. On the bed to his right is…? “What’s his name?”

Nurse Forty doesn’t bother to look. “That is Number 12.”

“Oh.” He was sure that he had had a name.

“We are going to be late for the testing, Number 88. Here is your meal. Eat and then meet me outside.” She hands him a metal tray and leaves the room.

Jongin studies the food in his lap. If he’s going off the dull colours, it’s probably safe to say that the food will be bland. However, he didn’t realize how hungry he was until he started eating. His stomach growls, trying to wrap itself around the morsels that Jongin is feeding it. Nothing about this meal is satisfying.

Number 12 begins stirring next to him. The man slowly sits up and Jongin notices how pale his face is. “Are you okay, Number 12?”

“Jongin?” he mumbles. The man rubs at his glowing eyes before taking him in. Then his already wide doe eyes widen more. “Oh no. Jongin, what time is it?”

Jongin glances up at the clock above his head. “12:30.”

“Lunch time?”

Number 12 looks around and then Jongin follows his gaze. Down the hallway, there are three more boys moving their way. However, rather than being led into their room, they are steered into one a little further down the hall.

“There’re more of us?” Jongin enquires.

Number 12’s voice is low as he says, “We’ll probably meet them later.”

“You have powers too,” Jongin states.

“I think it’s more a sickness than anything else.”

Another nurse enters. Her visor is down, but the blacks of her eyes are visible. It gives an eerie effect. She sets a tray down in front of the red haired man. “Number 12, I am going to unstrap you. No more fits?”

He shakes his head in response. The nurse unbinds him and he sits up, rubbing at his wrists. Jongin recalls talking with Number 12 before he fell asleep and he had been moving just fine. When had they strapped him in? What did she mean by fits? From where he’s sitting, Jongin can see how Number 12’s wrists have become raw before his sleeves slide over them.

“Your testing is after lunch, Number 12.”

Number 12 nods, his hair falling out of place. Then she exits just as abruptly as his nurse had. With a swipe of his hand, his hair settles back in place. “I’m Kyungsoo, by the way.” He eats as if they haven’t fed him in a while.

“Kyungsoo? I’m Jongin.”

Kyungsoo glances up at him. Jongin waits for him to say something since there seems to be something on his mind, but the man remains mum. He realizes that man had called his name upon waking. However, they both blow past his slip up as Jongin notes Kyungsoo’s quicker heartbeat in relation to his own.

“You okay?”

With his mouth full, Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow in question.

Jongin motions with his fork towards the heart monitor. “You sound nervous.”

“Fast heartbeat,” Kyungsoo mutters.

“Hyung?” The honorific slips off his tongue. It gets a response, so he must be older. “What are you looking at?”

Kyungsoo had been staring out the door in shock. He shovels the rest of the meal into his mouth and slides off his bed. He unhooks the heart monitor and IV as if he’s done it hundreds of times before. Jongin shouldn’t be surprised at his size, but there’s broadness in Kyungsoo’s upper body that he wasn’t expecting.

 

As Kyungsoo leaves the room, he hears Jongin muttering to himself about Kyungsoo’s slight rudeness. But he isn’t about to admit that he’s scared. Jongin isn’t scared of anything yet. The fear tends to settle in when they can’t remember strings of days. He hates inducing fear when he doesn’t have to. What had caught him off guard was the pink head of hair he’d seen down the hallway. He finished his meal to see if he could glimpse the face, because he hasn’t seen that pink hair in person in _years_.

The door swings closed behind him just as Minseok is led into a room. They lock eyes. Kyungsoo watches a slight furrow appear between Minseok’s brows. A split second later, Kyungsoo also sees the realization hit as he disappears into the other room.

Nurse Three sidles up to Kyungsoo. “Number 12, are you ready for your testing?”

Kyungsoo nods, unable to believe that they’d _caught_ him. He hears yelling as he follows Nurse Three right. She pushes through another set of doors, but they don’t close fast enough. He still catches part of the panic from some room in the hall.

“Sedate him! Before he drowns us all!”

_Junmyeon._

“Are there more people here?” Kyungsoo asks innocently.

“We have found some others. We’ll introduce you to them around dinner. For now, focus on the testing, Number 12.”

He wonders what sort of lies the nurses have concocted to convince the boys to come. Or did they just drug them all to high heaven like him? Minseok must have known to play stupid, because he wasn’t bound and his eyes weren’t vibrant blue.

Kyungsoo enters a room that is so familiar now; he can do the tests with his eyes closed. They always want to see how much stronger he’s gotten since the last run. He doesn’t expect any impressive results. The last stint hadn’t been that long ago. That oh-so-familiar drywall is moved in front of him.

“Right, Number 12, we are going to be testing your strength. If you have trouble remembering, I am reminding you that you are unbelievably strong.”

“That’s what makes me sick?” Kyungsoo asks, chuckling to himself at the double meaning. It’s crude humour, but soon even that will be a struggle to grasp at.

Nurse Three nods as the cranes finish setting up “Something in your DNA has been altered, giving you impressive strength. If we can understand how that manifests in you, how far we can push you, we may be able to use this.”

That’s all they ever tell him, that they will use it. They tell him he’s sick, but provide no cure. He has no idea what they plan on using all the information for. It’s not as if there are other insanely strong people.

Either way, he squares up with the drywall.

“Behind each wall, Number 12, is an enemy. Eliminate it.”

Kyungsoo straightens, not comprehending this new aspect of the test. It’s always just been drywall. At first they would have him break one piece, then two, then three, and so on. His personal best is 35 pieces of drywall together.

But _enemies_?

“Excuse me, Nurse Three?”

She glances up from her tablet. “Questions?”

“Did you say enemies?”

Nurse Three moves to his side. She sizes him up and notes down: _compassion_. Of all the test subjects, the nurses have found Do Kyungsoo to be the coldest. But it sounds like genuine concern in his voice now. So she shows him an outline of the first obstacle. The drywall is a dotted rectangle. To the far left of it is a mannequin, replicating a human in weight and density.

“They eventually become robotic as you advance and will start to mimic human movement as well.” She pauses, gauging his expression. “Think of it as a game, Number 12.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t understand why there are enemies now. Less sure this time, he squares up again. The loud buzz signalling the start echoes through the room. Kyungsoo inhales deeply and then slams both his hands into the drywall. Exhaling, he steps through the hole he’d made. Sure enough, on his left is an eerily life like looking mannequin. He hesitates as he nears it.

“ _Eliminate it, Number 12._ ” Nurse Three’s voice is cool over the intercom. Closing his eyes, he reaches out and squeezes its throat. It feels like skin under his hands and he has to force his mind to think of something else.

_Think about home. Think about all the projects you haven’t finished yet._

His mind flits to Baekhyun and Minseok for a moment and then the mannequin goes limp in his hand. He chucks it away and moves towards the second set of drywall in front of him. Above him, the sounds of chains creaking remind him that none of this is real. They’re setting up the rest of the course for him. It doesn’t take much more force to break through the two drywalls and he’s able to push through. On his right, another mannequin stands.

If he stands in front of it with his eyes closed, he can almost picture the nurses’ face on its neck.

 

**Day 2, 14:00**

As long as Kyungsoo thinks about other things, he can get through this maze without too much difficulty. However, between having to eliminate threats and taking down more and more drywall, Kyungsoo is starting to feel it by the 20th set. His vision is starting to blur. He gets three attempts at a wall before they end it, but he knows his limitations. He isn’t going to wait for them to push him. He holds a hand up after he’s broken the 20th robot. This one had come at him before he’d even had time to process where it was. He wasn’t expecting it to kill him, but the way it had tried to grab for his throat let him know what he had to expect if he ever made it to 30 walls.

“ _One more, Number 12_.”

Kyungsoo rests his two hands and his forehead against the 21st drywall. He’s aware of the clock somewhere in the room that has buzzed at 5-minute intervals. It’s taken him nearly an hour to get to 21. Between the mental strain of destroying the mannequins and then robots and actually busting down the walls in less than three tries, it’s taking longer than usual.

His hands clench into fists and his elbows make contact with the wall. On his next breath, he slams his whole forearm against the hard surface. The first half break and he burrows through the tunnel he’s made. Another blow cracks the rest and he’s able to get through with relative ease.

Three mannequins wait on the other side. They waste no time to come at him.

_One._

He ducks underneath a robotic punch and wraps his arm around the closest one’s neck.

_Two._

The other two he incapacitates with a hand at the throat each.

_Three_.

He tosses the metal bodies away from him and lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Kyungsoo looks at the three robots that feel way too real and a shiver goes up his spine.

“ _You may step off the course, Number 12._ ”

No praise whatsoever. It’s always so hard to gauge what they want from him. As he walks towards the side of the setup, a door swings open on his right. He assumes that’s where he’s meant to go and he steps into a blinding white light. The hallways always seem so much brighter when he leaves the test rooms. It also doesn’t help that his eyes are extremely sensitive after the medication. A blindfold goes around his eyes and he sighs in relief.

“How do you feel, Number 12?” It’s Nurse Three.

“Fine.”

“No pain anywhere? No strains on your heart or body?”

“Fine.”

“On a scale of 1-10, how difficult did you find the course?”

“I have nothing to compare it to, so 5.” It’s his standard answer after the first test. His real answer is 8. Without the need to fight, he’s sure he would have surpassed his personal best.

“I will escort you back to your room, Number 12. At dinner, you will be brought to a communal eating room where you will meet the others we have amassed. Then you will go for your psychological evaluation.”

Kyungsoo keeps his face neutral. He’s never had a psych evaluation at the Facility before. All these new introductions, after this entire process being so routine, are worrying. Frankly, the Facility itself is worrying, but he knew what to expect before. Every new aspect introduces more uncertainty. After four years of coming in and out of the Facility, uncertainty here has become his worst enemy.

His ears train on Nurse Three’s footsteps. She touches his arm briefly to direct him through a few doors. Then she undoes the blindfold. “Do you need anything, Number 12?”

“No.”

She hooks him back up to the heart monitor, slips the needle for his IV back into his arm, and leaves him. When the door closes behind her, Kyungsoo chances opening an eye. The room is dark, but what saddens him is the amount of beds. There are three new beds, all which are vacant. However, Jongin is lying on his side. There’s a crease in his forehead and Kyungsoo wonders if they put him through his testing already.

It only takes ten minutes for his heartbeat to slow to match Jongin’s. Since the room is near black, he assumes they injected Jongin with a larger dose. Carefully, Kyungsoo slides out of bed. His body protests, but he needs to know. With his IV pole in hand, he moves to Jongin’s side and crouches down in front of him

“Jongin?” he whispers.

His friend’s eyes flicker open. The blue in Kyungsoo’s eyes are reflecting off Jongin’s face. However, the light in Jongin’s eyes is almost too bright to look at. Jongin’s eyes widen as he stares at Kyungsoo. The dose was _high_.

_You must have said something you shouldn’t have._ Tentatively, he runs a hand through Jongin’s hair. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

One-worded answers from Jongin are never good. “What’s my name?”

Jongin stares at him for a long while. It’s not lost on Kyungsoo that his eyes dart to the collar of his shirt. “12.”

Kyungsoo’s gaze drops to his knees, but he nods al the same. “Yes.”

“My head hurts,” he murmurs.

“I know. It’ll probably hurt for a few hours.”

Jongin’s eyes slowly come into focus as Kyungsoo strokes his hair. “I can’t remember anything.”

“I know.”

“Why can’t I remember anything?”

Kyungsoo shushes him gently. “It’s fine, okay? You’re okay.”

His heart breaks at the desperation in Jongin’s face, but there’s nothing he can say here. Anything he says will give him away and the only way he’s survived this long is (sadly) because he has his mind.

“What happened to your face, hyung?” Jongin asks.

When the 20th robot had caught him off guard, it had skimmed Kyungsoo’s face. Along with the sensitive eyesight and intense strength, he also bruised easily save for his arms and legs. “It’s nothing. Just got a little bit scuffed up during testing.”

“Why are they testing us?”

Kyungsoo swallows hard against the small truth that he knows, even when it threatens to come up as bile. Because maybe that truth isn’t even a truth anymore. “They say we’re sick and they can help us.”

At this, Jongin’s eyes close and his heart rate slows. Because if they’re sick, it makes sense that they hurt.

 

**Day 2, 18:00**

Jongin sleeps fitfully for the next few hours, so Kyungsoo sits at the side of his bed. The white walls are so monotonous that he considered sleeping a little too. However, he doesn’t want to miss any opportunities to see the others. He’s caught glimpses of Jongdae and Chanyeol as they’ve been escorted back to their room. They look worn out, but more or less alive.

When the lights go up, Nurse Three enters the room.

“Number 12, 88.”

Kyungsoo gets to his feet. She glances over his shoulder at Jongin, who is slowly sitting up. “How are you both feeling?”

“Fine,” Kyungsoo answers.

“My head still hurts,” Jongin mutters.

“Would you like to take something for it, Number 88?”

Kyungsoo prays that Jongin will say no, but he keeps his eyes trained on Nurse Three.

“If you have something.”

“I will inform Nurse Forty to provide it with your meal.”

Kyungsoo waits for Jongin to get to his feet before following the nurse. They wind through different hallways. Over her shoulder, Kyungsoo is able to catch glimpses of a map on the tablet she carries. It’s odd why she would require a map; he swears that Nurse Three has been at the Facility for as long as he has. They stop and turn into a room on their left.

Inside is a long table. The test subjects sit on either side. Kyungsoo looks around the room, noting the various security guards. One of the guards, he recognizes. It’s Chaerin. It doesn’t slip by Kyungsoo that the woman had straightened when Jongin entered the room. The two of them take a seat on the same side of the table, facing her.

Across the table from him is Minseok. Sehun is at Kyungsoo’s left, Baekhyun across from him. They’re all here, all their eyes glowing at various levels of blue. Chanyeol’s eyes shine the brightest of all.

Minseok glances up at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo notes the fainter blue, it’s fainter than Sehun’s. Wordlessly, Kyungsoo tries to convey that he’s there. The real Kyungsoo is sitting before him. There are flickers in Minseok’s eyes, as if he’s trying to fight off whatever they gave him. He’s never understood why he and Minseok get such an inadequate dose. He isn’t sure if they do it on purpose, although if that were the case, they wouldn’t have lost Minseok for four years.

Nine nurses, including Nurses Three and Forty, enter with trays of food. Some boys have a small cup of pills on their tray as well. Minseok and Kyungsoo’s are without.

“Please, chat amongst yourselves,” Nurse Three says. “The guards are here to help.”

“Why do we need guards?” Baekhyun asks.

“Just in case one of you gets out of hand. This is a big transition and the medication we’ve given you has made you all slightly… loopy, shall we say?” Nurse Three answers. “If you need anything concerning your health, please call for your respective nurse.” With that said, all nine of them leave and they’re left (mostly) alone once again.

Chaerin crosses the room and pretends to jostle Minseok. He glances back at her, eyeing her angrily. “We’re wearing earplugs,” she says loud enough for all of them to hear. Then she adjusts his shirt before stepping back to her place. They all glance around, aware of the cameras trained on them. To an extent, they can speak freely here.

“So I wasn’t the only one living like this?” Baekhyun whispers.

They all wait for him to show them what he means; but Kyungsoo, with his head down, mutters, “Don’t try anything.”

“Hyung?” Jongin asks.

“Just… don’t.”

Kyungsoo lifts his head and plasters a smile on his face. “How was your day?”

Junmyeon catches on quickly despite his eyes being almost as blue as Chanyeol’s. He assumes the high dose is from the fight he’d put up when he’d arrived. “They had me fill one pool and then multiple pools at once.”

Chanyeol was asked to start a fire, simple. And then asked to contain the fire he’d started, not quite so simple.

“I didn’t even know I could do that,” he mutters to his food. Chanyeol sways as he eats. Kyungsoo can see the vacancy behind Chanyeol’s eyes, as if his mind is void of anything. If Kyungsoo has to take a guess, Chanyeol can probably only remember the last few hours.

Jongin explained his testing. They shot flaming arrows at him, multiple ones at a time and he had to teleport away from them. That explained why he was favouring his left hand despite being right-handed. It may also explain why they had given him such a heavy dose. They didn’t want him to be angry about what he’d endured and forcing him to forget was a simple solution.

“I guess mine was the nicest,” Baekhyun murmurs. “They just asked me to light up a pitch dark room.”

This causes a slight laugh to ripple through the group. Sehun shares that they had asked him to conjure up high winds. They had monitors around him, showing him wind speed and intensity. “I think they’re trying to work me up to hurricanes,” Sehun says.

As the boys get more comfortable with each other, conversation shifts to what they can remember from home. It’s during this time that Minseok meets Kyungsoo’s eye. Both boys have been quiet throughout the meal.

“Have you ever thought about es—?” Minseok whispers. Kyungsoo’s eyes widen so much that Minseok is worried his eyeballs will fall out of his head. Minseok stops abruptly, but isn’t surprised when he replies.

“No,” is his answer.

Minseok matches his one-word answer with a one-word question. “Why?”

“Impossible.”

“ _Why_?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes go around the room, briefly pausing at the camera trained on him. “Obstacles.”

“Nothing’s impossible.”

Kyungsoo lowers his voice, making his lips as still as possible as he says, “I’ve tried. Don’t risk your skin.”

Minseok copies him, but turns to listen to Jongdae draw everyone a mental image of Almaty. “Do they know?”

“They?”

“There’s _us_ and there’s them.” Minseok’s eyes quickly flit around the table to accentuate the meaning.

Kyungsoo understands. “No, they don’t.”

“The eyes?”

“Drugged.”

“All of us?”

“All of us.”

“And… us?”

“Fucked up?” Kyungsoo guesses.

Minseok smirks, side-eyeing Kyungsoo. “Fucked up,” he muses.

“Play stupid,” Kyungsoo pleads now. “Don’t let on.”

“And the gaps?”

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow in response.

“Drugged,” Minseok sighs.

Baekhyun faces Minseok. Kyungsoo and Minseok now realize that they were going around asking for names. “Minseok.”

“Relative age?” Baekhyun prompts.

Minseok tries to stop himself from laughing. “26?”

“Hyung then,” Jongdae mutters, as if he’s filing it away for later.

It moves to Jongin next and he introduces himself. “I have no idea how old I am.” But he hears a very faint, “22.” He glances up at Chaerin. He hasn’t studied her at all during the meal, having had something more interesting to listen to. However, he’s very aware of her eyes on him. Her mouth isn’t open and she isn’t even looking at him.

“But let’s go with 22,” Jongin decides.

“Kyungsoo, 23.”

“Sehun, 22”

“Maknaes,” Chanyeol chuckles.

For the first time tonight, Kyungsoo meets Yixing’s eye. He knows Yixing speaks minimal Korean, being a Chinese native. Yixing’s backstory is the haziest for him. There isn’t much to go on. Their first few months together had genuinely been fun, however Yixing hadn’t spoken much. Even now, Kyungsoo can tell that Yixing is struggling to keep up with what’s going on.

“Sehun?” Kyungsoo asks.

The taller man tips his gaze down. Kyungsoo wonders for a moment when he stopped dying his hair dark. The lighter silver colour suits him and Kyungsoo is happy, at least, that Sehun let it grow out. “How’s your Mandarin?”

Sehun’s brow furrows.

“You know Mandarin?” Jongdae asks.

“A little. I…” Sehun’s blue eyes round on Kyungsoo. “I was learning for someone.”

Kyungsoo purses his lips and Sehun bows his head in apology for being loud. But the struggle to remember has been taking a toll the past few hours. Large chunks of his life. Gone.

“Maybe you can sit with Yixing hyung,” Kyungsoo suggests, nodding towards the white haired man. Now, everyone realizes how quiet Yixing has been. It hadn’t clicked for them that it was because he was Chinese.

Sehun locks eyes with Yixing, who smiles shyly. The younger boy pushes up from his seat and moves around the table. This move shuffles the entire table and the boys move around to mingle better. Kyungsoo studies Minseok as he gazes over in Sehun’s direction, his eyes dropping to Junmyeon, before moving to sit with Kyungsoo. He tips his head, but Minseok doesn’t comment, so Kyungsoo doesn’t either.

Jongin takes up conversation with Chanyeol, who wandered around the table, curious about Jongin’s testing. Their voices remain at a constant hum in the room. This has always been Kyungsoo’s favourite part about returning to the Facility. If there can even be a favourite part about pushed to your limits by people who don’t care about your health and are only concerned with how well you perform. However, seeing them all and hearing what they’ve been up tends to keep their spirits up for at least three days.

Kyungsoo gives Minseok his full attention, picking at the weird colourless food. He’s watched Minseok unconsciously touch his left forearm a few times throughout dinner. “Where have you been hiding, hyung?”

“Around Germany, but mostly in Berlin.”

Kyungsoo is surprised by this answer. Four years without Minseok and it turns out the man had been hiding right where they’d left him? “What? That’s where they dropped you off, isn’t it?”

Minseok swallows hard, his eyes going around the room once counting cameras. Hardly moving his lips, he whispers, “They put trackers in us.”

Explains a lot.

“Where?”

“Left forearm.”

Explains even more. It definitely explains the odd lump in his arm that he was sure was some sort of oddly placed tumour.

“But that can’t be how they found you.”

Minseok’s eyes go back to Sehun. The boy is in the middle of doing gestures with Yixing. “I remember him being interested in Mandarin. I didn’t know it was for somebody.”

“Don’t say the ‘r’ word here,” Kyungsoo murmurs.

“Oh, right. We’re supposed to be…”

“Loopy.”

Minseok smirks. “Anyway, I haven’t worked out _how_ they found me. I got home a few nights ago and Sehun came up on my television screen. It felt like a warning or a sign.”

“So they pulled you out of hiding.”

“Who knows if they’ll ever let me out again?”

Kyungsoo’s brow furrows. They’d mostly been talking with their heads down, pretending as if they were still eating. Now, he glances at Minseok. “What do you mean?”

“How many guards in your room?”

“None.”

“Do they strap you down?”

“Only after a test. Only if I seize.”

“Between my physical and since I got here, I’ve been strapped down. There are guards stationed outside the room.”

“Do you share it?”

“With Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae.”

“At least you’re not alone. That’s good.” Minseok tilts his head at that statement, not understanding the good. “They don’t see you as a complete threat.”

“But they see me as enough of a threat to strap me down. Baekhyun tried to untie me, but they came in and hauled him away.”

With this revelation, Kyungsoo studies Baekhyun. He wishes he had more time to talk to him, to learn about those morning walks he always talks about. However, he doesn’t get that. Baekhyun is smiling at something Junmyeon’s said and that’s when Kyungsoo notices it. The shadowing around his face, as if his cheeks are hollowed out. He hasn’t been here a whole day, but they’ve overexerted him. His eyes are bluer than they usually are and the way he ravaged his food meant they hadn’t fed him all day.

“He can’t even remember it. I don’t know why they had to punish him,” Minseok mutters. “I should’ve—”

Kyungsoo turns back to Minseok, grabbing his wrist under the table. “There’s nothing you could’ve done. It’s good he can’t remember it. He probably just wonders why he feels so tired.” Kyungsoo waits for Minseok to lift his eyes. “I know you haven’t been here for four years, but this is how it works here. And God, I’ll be surprised if we don’t get in a load of shit because we look like we know too much right now, but that’s what we get in exchange for remembering.” Kyungsoo’s grip around Minseok’s wrist loosens. “You can’t tell them. They freak out and they ask for answers. They ask and we can’t give them. Not if we want to continue to see them.”

Minseok utters a name that Kyungsoo tries desperately to forget. “Zitao?”

“The last time I saw him was the last time you saw him too.” That’s the simplest way to explain it. He can’t say that there’s some crazy ass door at his apartment in Colorado that let him see into their lives and that Zitao just disappeared from it. It’s something he’ll probably never be able to explain. Not with cameras and nurses lingering around every corner trying to catch him slipping.

“Hyung,” Jongdae calls, interrupting all conversations. “Can you do the thing?”

Kyungsoo eyes Minseok. The older man and reaches for the nearest glass. Kyungsoo is about to stop, because what the hell? Didn’t he say—?

The ice in the cup disappears. Nothing of significance, nothing obvious. However, Jongdae still looks pleased as Minseok pushes the cup over to him. “I’m not stupid, Kyungsoo-yah. You know more than I do, so keep me alive in here.”

Kyungsoo glances at the door as it opens, knowing why. “Two things. Tip number 1: be as obedient as you can.”

“And tip number 2?” Minseok asks as the conversations fall to silence.

“Put your feelings away. You can’t use them here.”

Minseok glances at Kyungsoo, but Nurse Three stands behind him waiting for him to stand. “Your psych evaluation, Number 12.” He nods once and gets to feet, aware of the eyes on him as he leaves.

“You were very chatty tonight, Number 12.”

Of course they were watching the cameras. “It was nice to see other people.”

“What did Number 99 have to tell you?”

Kyungsoo stares at her.

“The man you were talking to. He’s Number 99. Did he not tell you?”

He has no response. It didn’t matter to either of them what their numbers were. It should’ve, because they shouldn’t remember each other. He mentally scolds himself for slipping up there. Luckily for him though, he’s gotten pretty good at lying. “He just told me about his homes in Berlin,” Kyungsoo says.

“Homes?”

Kyungsoo nods his head. “He said that he lived around Berlin for a while.” Mix in lies with truth and it becomes hard to tell them apart.

She leads him up a set of stairs and Kyungsoo feels the air warm. The door she opens leads them into a dimly lit lobby. The doors are made of glass and Kyungsoo has to guess that this is the entrance to the Facility, something he has never personally seen before. They usually have to drug him to get him to the Facility. Of course, they couldn’t entertain ‘normal’ people in the catacombs.

Nurse Three takes him down the right hallway that leads out of the lobby. Despite the dark sky outside creating shadows of everything, he can make out mountains and gardens. Looking right, there is an indoor garden. From being down below, he knows that the indoor garden sits above where they do their testing. He tries not to think about how far underground they usually are.

They stop at an open door and Nurse Three motions for him to enter. She follows him inside and Kyungsoo takes in the open office. There is a desk directly ahead of him, a computer screen sitting at the left corner, probably to get as little glare as possible off the screen when the sun set. There is a bookshelf to his left and filing cabinets in the corner on his right. There are keyholes at every drawer, deeming every file in her cabinets important. He notes the degrees on the wall, but doesn’t bother to read what sorts of degrees she would require to be a psychologist of human experiments.

Behind the desk sits a beautiful woman, freckles spattering across her nose. He slips into the seat across from her, the deep evergreen of the foliage and gardens framing her nicely. She’s dressed in a blue jumpsuit. The colour is refreshing after all the white he’s seen in the past two days. In the reflection of the window, he watches his nurse turn and leave. The door closes behind her.

“I am Dr. Yi.” He knew that from her nameplate on the desk. “They told you I was a doctor, correct?”

“Psychologist, but yes.”

She directs her attention to the top folder of her pile. “What is your name?”

Kyungsoo is unsure if she wants his number or his actual name. However, they’ve never asked for his real name here, so he says, “Number 12.”

She seems to approve of this answer. “Do you know why you’re here, Number 12?”

“In the Facility? Or in your office?”

A small lift at the corner of her lips makes him hesitant. People don’t smile around here. If they do, something bad tends to happen, so he braces for something. He waits for nurses to storm the room and strap him down, but nothing happens.

“You decide,” she says.

Kyungsoo swallows and shifts in his seat. He processes all his possible answers and what sort of outcome would come of each. Unable to determine how she’ll respond, he decides to continue with a basic answer. “They told me that I was here because I’m sick. I have a genetic mutation. They want to study it.”

“They told you this.” It’s a question more than a statement.

“It is what I’ve understood.”

Dr. Yi nods her head as she jots down more onto her pad of paper. “I read in your file that you lived in Colorado. What did you do there?”

He studies her, his eyes narrowing. What answers is he expected to give? She’s difficult to read. “Not much. I hardly left the house.”

“What did you do before you were admitted here, then?” she asks. Her pen is poised over her pad, waiting for him to spill his life story in Colorado.

Kyungsoo has nothing to hide, but he is well aware that there are things he shouldn’t remember. “I think I just stayed home.”

“You think.”

“I don’t remember everything.”

“What do you remember?”

Kyungsoo hates that question. It feels like a trick question. “I like projects, keeping my hands busy.”

She tousles her short locks, flipping it over. “And how do you feel, Number 12?”

“Feel?”

“Mentally and physically.”

“Mentally…? Drained. Physically, fine.”

“Drained?”

Kyungsoo nods only once, not wanting to discuss it more. She may be turning out to be one of the nicer people he’s ever met here, but he isn’t ready to let his guard down. There is something about her that he isn’t sure what to make of. Dr. Yi seems to sense the walls slamming down around him, because she decides to drop the topic.

She leans forward onto her elbows. “Number 12, do you really understand why I am evaluating you?”

Kyungsoo stares back at her. She seems to get something from his lack of answer, because she scribbles something down in her notes.

“Thank you, Number 12. I expect that I will see you at a later date.” She meets his eye and Kyungsoo takes this as his cue to leave.

 

**Day 2, 20:09**

Dr. Yi watches the man leave and leans back in her chair. There is a certain conscious awareness that she had gotten from him. From what the nurses and doctors had told her in preparation to meet the test subjects, she had been told that they would seem empty, as if there was nothing going in their heads. She is about to note this down, but holds off. They told the test subjects that she was a psychologist. They didn’t inform them that she was the one who suggested the dosage level of their memory suppressant medication.

Before she can think more about Number 12, someone else enters her office. He is tall; she has to tip her head up to look at him. His hair is red, just like Number 12’s. However, from what she understands, Number 12 is legendary here. This other red-headed man must be pyro-boy, as some of the doctors referred to him.

“Sit,” his nurse commands.

“Please, Nurse Twenty-Six, we’re in no rush here,” Dr. Yi says gently.

The nurse eyes her, but bows before leaving. Dr. Yi’s gaze settles on the boy in front of her. His blue eyes are near blinding to look at, but she doesn’t look away.

“What’s your name?”

Like Number 12, this boy hesitates as well. “Chan—” Dr. Yi shakes her head so subtly that the cameras will not be able to pick it up. “Number 61.”

She flips through his file. “How are you feeling, Number 61?”

“Disoriented,” he admits. “I feel as if there’s something wrong with my head.”

“Oh, why’s that?” She finds she doesn’t need to press Number 61 hard for information. Not like Number 12. She watches his expression carefully, admiring the way he visibly bites on his tongue, probably to keep himself from sharing too much.

“Just feels as if something is missing.”

Dr. Yi notes down Number 61’s struggle to answer. “How was your life in Arizona?”

“Arizona…” he echoes.

“Where you were living before coming to the Facility.”

“Oh. Uhm…”

“Were you living alone?”

Number 61 bites his bottom lip.

“Number 61?”

“Sorry, I…”

“How do you feel physically, Number 61?”

“Physically? A little bit tired.” Relief appears on his face when he can answer one question. “I feel as if I’ve been doing hard labour all day.”

“And mentally you feel as if something is missing.”

“If you’re asking in that sense, mentally, I feel better than I do physical.”

_That’s not saying much._

Number 61 has dark circles under his eyes. The life they plucked him from had him doing hard labour. However, compared to lighting up a 500-metre radius fire and then being expected to contain and extinguish it, a farm life might not be quite as draining. She decides to mention the farm.

“A farm?” he repeats when she does.

Dr. Yi scribbles on the paper that the dose for him is too strong. _Extreme memory loss._ She doesn’t look up as she asks her next question. “No wife, Number 61?”

“Wife?”

“Apparently there is a woman in your life. You grew up together.”

“A wife…”

“Or a girlfriend. Someone you care about?”

Number 61 stares blankly at her before worry begins settling in the lines on his face. “I-I can’t recall…”

“That’s fine, Number 61. No need to worry.” The amount of force it requires to smile is almost as painful as this conversation. “You are free to go.”

Number 61 swallows down hard as he gets to his feet. Suddenly, the arm of the chair he’d been sitting in ignites. He slams his hand down on it, staunching the flame. “Sorry. I… I’m still trying to figure out how it works.”

Her smile softens to a genuine one. “It’s alright. No harm done.” As the door closes behind him, she notes down that they ought to half his dose.

A light tap on the door causes her to look up. She shuffles the files until the name _Number 10, Zhang Yixing_ reads up at her. Said man wanders in, an observant look in his eye and a passive expression on his face as he sits down. They hold each other’s gaze for a while and Dr. Yi finds his stare unnerving.

She’s had to meet some interesting characters being a doctor. This job had definitely one of the more vague job descriptions and has been relatively easy all things considered. However, from all the people she’s met, something about Number 10 makes her feel as if he knows too much.

“Hello.”

The man simply nods his head.

“I’m Dr. Yi. What’s your name?”

“你的挡不告吗？( _Your file doesn’t say?_ )”

She blinks in surprise. She knew he was Chinese, but she hadn’t expected him to use Mandarin with her. She replies in kind. “自我介绍”. ( _Introduce yourself.)_

“我数还是我名字？( _My number or my name?_ )”

Before she can reply, a voice over the intercom says, “No Mandarin.”

The confidence that Number 10 had shown dissipates slightly. “你的数 ( _Your number_ ),” she answers before switching.

“Number 10,” he states.

“Can you tell me why you think you’re here, Number 10?”

“Sick.”

“Sick in what way?”

Number 10 shrugs. She knows that he wants to talk, wants to ask her questions. He wants to be a pain in her ass, but it’s hard if he can’t communicate properly.

“Do you understand better than you speak, Number 10?”

Number 10 nods once.

“I’ll ask you yes or no questions first. How is your head feeling? Empty? In pain?”

Number 10 narrows his eyes slightly and nods once.

“Do you remember Yunnan?”

It takes him a minute, but he nods.

“That’s where you currently live, isn’t it?”

Number 10 nods again.

“Did you have a wife?”

A headshake.

“You didn’t?”

Again, no.

“There was no one you were interested in?”

He pauses for a moment to consider it before shaking his head again. His eyebrow lifts curiously.

“Very personal questions, I know. It’s something I ask to gauge your mental health.”

His expression is still skeptical, but there are no protests as she continues with the questions. “Did you have a job while you were in Yunnan?”

Number 10 shakes his head once. She doesn’t get to ask him if he was in school, because the door suddenly opens and Nurse Fifteen enters. She takes Number 10 by the arm. “The interview is done. Number 10 is not feeling well lately and requires rest.”

Dr. Yi lifts an eyebrow, but doesn’t stop them. Number 10 lets the nurse lead him out of the room. From such a brief interview, she has nothing of importance to note. She takes the time before the next test subject to flick through his file to see what they had on him. Near the end of his file, there are pages of photocopied emails. He had apparently been communicating with someone. However, they hadn’t been able to figure out who exactly he was corresponding with.

From what they have been able to uncover, Number 10 was speaking with a woman. She wasn’t a native, if her broken Chinese was anything to go on. If it wasn’t his wife, whose children did she mention? Number 10 hardly seemed like the ‘baby daddy’ type, though with a face like his, anything was possible.

Her last interview for the night walks in.

“Name?”

“Number 99.”

She gives him a quick once over. He’s about the same as Number 12 in stature. His eyes are not as vibrant as Number 61, which is curious. She decides, though, that she’ll leave a note on his prescription once she’s spoken with him. Feeling antsy after the other interviews and the steady stare of Number 99, she stands and moves to sit on the edge of her desk, closer to him.

“Number 99, what can you tell me about Berlin? You haven’t been to the Facility in a few years, so you must have stories to tell.”

Number 99 stares up at her with a blank expression, almost as if he can’t see her. If she’s learned anything at all over the past few years, though, it’s that a blank expression is never really a blank expression. At least not when it comes to these men.

“Number 99?”

“I thought this was a psych evaluation.”

“It is.”

Number 99 tilts his head. “So why are you asking me about what city I lived in? Why are you not asking me about my brain?”

“By understanding where you come from, I can understand your mind.”

“ _Quatsch_ ,” he mutters.

From his tone and harden expression, his German was not meant to be kind.

“Number 99, I know coming back to the Facility must be a change to what you’re used to in Berlin. However, all I want to know is how you are. How all this has affected you. Do you know why you’re at the Facility?”

Number 99’s eyes run up and down her body, sizing her up. She wonders what he’s thinking, but that’s not the point of this evaluation. This evaluation is to gauge how the medication is affecting their memory and reaction time. Nurse One told her to watch their facial expressions.

“They’re smarter than they look,” Nurse One warned. “Some of them might remember more than they let on. We want you to catch that.”

She knows the look that Nurse One was talking about, but she waits Number 99 out.

“I’m sick.”

“And why haven’t you been to the Facility in many years?”

Number 99 seems to have expected this question, because his response is level and short. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.”

He offers no more.

“How do you feel, Number 99?” she asks.

“Feel?”

“Emotionally?”

Number 99 runs through different answers. She watches his eyes flick back and forth. If she hadn’t been watching him carefully, she wouldn’t know that his mind is working a mile a minute. He must be coming up with possible outcomes, but she doesn’t tell him that her office is off limits. She waits him out.

“Fine,” he answers.

“You’re free to go, Number 99.” Dr. Yi stands again and returns to her seat as he leaves the room. Quickly, she jots down, _Increase the dose on Number 99._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd been debating how I wanted to split the chapters up, because the story from here on out is sorta based around the time. I've decided on giving the entire day, so some of these are gonna be lengthy. Like this one lol. :D


	12. Day 3, 9:00

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If we’re superhuman, are there any limitations?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This semester has kicked me in the ass and I'm so, so, so glad it's over. Think I should have time to post and finish this one out by the end of summer. :) Happy to be back~

**Day 3, 9:00**

Sehun takes deep breaths to try to calm himself as he goes through the MRI scan. Nurse Thirty-Two stands on the other side of the window watching while a technician controls the machine. He doesn’t know if it’s a nurse he’s met or not as all of them look so similar. He only recognizes Nurse Thirty-Two because of the braid in her hair.

As the machine passes over him, he tries to even his breathing. According to the technician, the stress he puts on himself in the MRI alters his results. The tight space and the promise of more physical tests afterwards affect the muscle tension in his body and puts strain on his organs. He’s sure that they’ll have altered results and that every time he winds up in this machine coffin that they’ll be different.

The door opens and the whirring in the room from the MRI stops. “Come along, Number 94.”

Sehun slides off the table. The technician behind the window is gone already and Nurse Thirty-Two is waiting for him in the doorway. He ducks out of view to change back into his uniform, placing the hospital gown on the MRI table for Minseok. He glances at Sehun briefly as they pass each other, but Sehun notes the flatter look in his eye.

Sehun stares straight at the back of his nurse’s head as he follows her to his training room. Warm air wraps around him, soothing the chills running down his spine and preventing any goose bumps. Kyungsoo had returned from his evaluation and told them that they had to do everything in their power to stay calm.

“Don’t let them know they got to you,” Kyungsoo warned. They had been brought back to their shared room after dinner and waited up for Kyungsoo. The red-headed man had sat down on his bed and Jongin asked what happened. He didn’t share, but he told them things that Sehun now repeats like a mantra.

“The first few days feel like the hardest ones, because you’re not used to anything. When you start to lose your mind in here, that’s when they can do whatever they want with you.” He spoke as if from experience, but the way he held himself, Sehun wouldn’t be surprised. Kyungsoo seemed to have his wits about him, no matter what sorts of medication they injected in him or made him ingest.

One piece of advice that he’s been acting on was Kyungsoo’s suggestion to take warm air wherever he could get it. “If it makes you feel better,” Kyungsoo murmured, “do it. You get little relief here.”

It is only his second day and Sehun understands that. He swallows hard as he enters the training room. If he weren’t so scared of Nurse Thirty-Two, maybe he would have the courage to ask her how they put a desert in the Facility. But she scares him, so he doesn’t say anything.

“Any questions today, Number 94?” Nurse Thirty-Two turns to him. They’re off to the side near the door where the chest of sensors is. He lifts his shirt to allow her to put the sensors on his chest. He glances over his shoulder at the box overlooking his makeshift desert. There are two doctors in lab coats, one man with glasses sitting at the controls, and eventually Nurse Thirty-Two will be up there too. He slides his hands into the fingerless gloves that have sensors in the palms.

“No.”

She nods her head once and they face the terrain. It’s still. “We will repeat the exercises from yesterday.”

Sehun waits for her to add the ‘but’ in her sentence.

“But this time there will be enemies.”

“Enemies?”

Nurse Thirty-Two lifts her hand in the air and suddenly the sound of a large metal door opening pulls his attention to the far left of the room. Standing in the doorway are three human-like figures.

“Today, we will let you figure out how to disarm them.”

Sehun holds his breath, waiting for a punch line.

“Be as effective as possible,” are her parting words. She steps back through the doorway. Practice doesn’t start until the nurse is in the box. He isn’t sure how much time he has until the loud buzzer goes, but it gives him time to panic and think.

As he moves towards the center of the desert, he can’t come up with any way to eliminate the robots using his science-given power. A small tornado spins at his feet and while that may take down someone who is living, will it be able to take down something that isn’t? From what he understood from Nurse Thirty-Two’s lengthy explanation the day before, it was that they wanted him to create hurricane wide storms with tornado speed winds. The tornado he can do, but the widest he can stretch it before he loses control of it is half the size of the room.

The buzzer overhead goes off and Sehun pushes thoughts of the robots out of his mind. He focuses on Nurse Thirty-Two’s instructions. They test his speed in conjuring up a tornado the size of the room. Then they test the wind speed of the fastest tornado he can make. His wind speed is faster than the day before, which Nurse Thirty-Two seems pleased with.

“ _Alright, Number 94, hurricane_.”

Sehun swallows down hard. A hurricane comes all at once and takes up most of the room. He needs somewhere to pull air from and finds that the room is too small to summon the speed and size they want. Shaking his head, he tries it anyway. He gives his hands a shake to calm his nerves, thinks of Kyungsoo’s words, and then pulls as much air through the room and around him as he can. He’s the eye of his makeshift hurricane. His hair whips around him as the wind speeds pick up. Hurricanes tend to be slower than tornadoes. What they lack in speed, they make up for in size and Sehun tries to mimic this.

He watches the metal pins in the ceiling pull as the hurricane spreads. However, he’s human. A human who doesn’t know how to use this weird power and he loses it by the time he has spread the hurricane to two-thirds of the room. His body goes limp and the winds disappear just as suddenly.

“ _Again, Number 94_.”

They give him a few minutes to regroup before he tries again. However, two-thirds is his maximum for the day. He’s struggling to push more air through and he isn’t sure how to make it any bigger without losing power.

“ _Again_.”

He isn’t sure how many times he does it. He loses track after five tries, as all his mental capacity needs to go towards figuring out what he has to do with his hands and body to get the results they want.

“ _That’s enough_.”

Sehun collapses onto the ground. His hands clench into fists and he takes a moment to feel the sand shift in his grip. He’s heaving deep breaths, but he knows that this isn’t over until they say it’s over.

_You’re superhuman. This is not how you wanted to be superhuman, but you are now. So get up._

He isn’t sure where this voice came from, but he listens to this assertive version of himself. Struggling to his feet, he straightens his back out and gives his arms a shake. His gaze lifts to the observing box and he raises an arm in the air.

“ _Disarm or eliminate, Number 94. The robots will be sent out one at a time. They will attack when they get close enough. Each of them is the same weight, density, and height as a well trained male operative._ ”

He understands the underlying ‘So don’t let them get too close’. The instructions end when the metal door opens again. A robot steps out and starts walking towards him. There is a lot of distance between him and the robot. So he has a few minutes to come up with the best strategy. His mind files through various ways someone can be taken out by wind.

Once the robot is in arm’s reach, he still hasn’t come up with any ideas. At the moment, his best solution is to run. He runs to the opposite end of the room and watches the robot round on him. With nothing coming to him, he forces an intense, concentrated gust of wind in the robot’s direction. It flings the robot back. He hears the metal make contact with the wall, but it gets up and starts back towards him.

 

**Day 3, 12:43**

Junmyeon looks over at Sehun’s bed as the heart monitor begins picking up. Kyungsoo and Jongin haven’t returned from their respective practices and Yixing is sleeping. So Junmyeon walks over to Sehun and splashes his face lightly with water. When Sehun sits up sputtering, Junmyeon notes the bruising around his throat.

“They really got you,” he comments.

Sehun lies back, as if he feels lightheaded. “What happened?”

“Judging from the bruising on your neck, you had to fight robots today.”

“I remember the robots,” Sehun states.

“Well… since they’re around your neck, I’m guessing they were choking you out until they stopped the simulation.”

Sehun groans at the thought. “I just… this useless power doesn’t do anything.”

“Useless?” Junmyeon realizes that none of them have actually shared what sort of abnormality they possess. “I can control water. What’s wrong with you?”

A cold gust of air wraps around his torso. He gasps at the sudden temperature drop and his heart rate picks up as he struggles to cope with it. His extremities feel fine, even his head. But just as soon as the wind picked up, it dies away. “Air. Wind. I don’t know,” Sehun mutters.

“Not exactly u-useless,” Junmyeon chatters.

“Well, it’s not very good against robots. Nothing I did was strong enough to finish them off.”

“We’ve only been in here a few days. Give it some time.”

“You probably got yours out of the way. That’s why you’re not bedridden.”

Junmyeon glances over at Yixing, who looks as if he also took a beating. However, he watched Yixing walk into the room on his own, so it says something about the way the man probably fights. “Water can be deadly.”

“Well, air isn’t that scary unless you have asthma.”

Junmyeon pats Sehun’s arm gently. “It’s okay. You’ll figure it out.”

“Will I?” Sehun rolls onto his side to face him. “What do I do with a useless power? You guys can probably all do something really impressive. And here I am struggling to make a tornado.”

“Tornados are powerful. Why didn’t you try that?” Junmyeon asks.

Sehun sighs. “What do you mean?”

Junmyeon looks around and finds he doesn’t have anything to draw with. At least until he remembers that he can practice his skill and demonstrate to Sehun what he means. He sits on the edge of Sehun’s bed.

“I haven’t perfected this yet,” is his forewarning.

With one hand, he manages to create a miniature water tornado. “I don’t know much about tornadoes and one of the others can probably tell you more, but…” His other hand creates a freestanding blob. He can’t form it into anything, but it’ll have to do. “Pretend that’s a robot. Now, tornadoes are supposed to be fast funnels of different air temperatures.”

“I guess.”

“Then due to the speed and the fact that we need to breathe, wouldn’t walking into a tornado pretty much kill you?” He pushes the water tornado into the blob, which splashes water onto the floor. His power doesn’t clean up water, so he leaves it as it is.

“Well… I guess? But doesn’t that also have to do with the fact that you can’t breathe in a tornado?”

“Unless you’re in the eye, yeah, I guess so.”

“Is that effective on robots?”

“Let’s be honest, I don’t even know why we need to fight robots,” Junmyeon admits. “It’s not as if we’re going to be using these… powers as weapons.”

Sehun shrugs. “They’re trying to help us cope, aren’t they? To understand it better, maybe they have to see what the limitations are.”

“If we’re superhuman, are there any limitations?”

Junmyeon had been thinking about that a lot. Especially when Nurse Fifty-Nine had called him ‘superhuman’. He can’t remember in what context she’d used the word in, but he wonders about it. Humans aren’t meant to be able to control the elements and yet he and Sehun are living proof that they can be. He’s too nervous to ask Nurse Fifty-Nine what exactly she believes happened to make him like this, but he’s played around with different possibilities. The only one that seems plausible is that he was created to be this way.

“My power is its own limitation.”

“You’re being negative again,” Junmyeon warns him. “And that’s too easy in a place like this.”

“Aren’t you scared, hyung?” Sehun asks.

“Scared?”

“Scared of this place. We were brought here against our will, have been lumped together with a bunch of people we haven’t met before, and are expected to be tested and prodded like experiments. Doesn’t that freak you out?”

“If I let my mind do what it wanted, I’d have had seven mental breakdowns already.”

“So why haven’t you yet?”

Junmyeon thinks of M, the man who had called him every single day to reassure him that life can be normal. Even though there are gaps in his memory and he could shoot water out of his hands without knowing how or why, there was someone out there who knew and understood. Or semi-understood. M’s calming words are keeping him sane.

“Just some things I tell myself that a friend told me. Keeps the monsters away, I guess.”

Sehun sighs. “Well, I never really felt like I belonged in Edinburgh.”

Junmyeon lifts an eyebrow at this. Sehun shifts his body over to make room for Junmyeon to sit on the bed with him. He has to drag his IV a little closer and shift the heart monitor towards the bed so that it doesn’t pull on his body, but he manages to find a seat on the corner of the bed.

“I felt as if I was picking up a life of somebody else. That I had been plunked down somewhere that I didn’t fit in. My co-worker, Emily, she called me to ask me if I was finally going to come in to work. And then I had to call her back, this stranger I felt as if I knew but didn’t, and ask her _where_ I was going.”

Junmyeon understands this sentiment all too well. While his job hadn’t really needed him, had only asked him to read over proposals and sign off on them, he had felt that empty feeling too.

“And I’m scared here,” Sehun continues, “because being in here makes me feel as if I belong. You’re all strangers to me, but it doesn’t feel that way.”

“Are you scared because this place doesn’t feel as if they’re helping us?” Junmyeon asks quietly.

Sehun shrugs. “I wasn’t really thinking of it that way. Honestly, the only thing I can think about this place is what are the odds that they would find nine men all around the world in seemingly days and pull us together here?”

“Well, from the sounds of Minseok hyung’s evaluation, we come back here often.”

“We do?” Sehun’s brows knit together and Junmyeon already knows where his mind has gone. He had wondered it himself. Kyungsoo hadn’t mentioned it to them. Kyungsoo acted as if this was their first time in.

“Minseok hyung said that he has good reason for not telling us,” Junmyeon answers Sehun’s unasked question. “He said that while we shouldn’t really trust anyone here, that we need to put our faith in Kyungsoo.”

“Kyungsoo hyung doesn’t say much,” Sehun states. “How do I know he isn’t as clueless as we are?”

Junmyeon purses his lips as he thinks about that. His gaze settles on Sehun’s glowing eyes, noting the vacancy behind his stare. He feels that vacancy in his head. “Because Kyungsoo seems to be the only one whose head isn’t stuffed with cotton balls.”

Sehun doesn’t seem to have anything to say to that. And just then, Jongin is led back into the room. Nurse Forty glances at Junmyeon and Sehun before her gaze sweeps to Yixing. Then she gets to work at hooking Jongin’s machines back up before leaving the room without another word.

Junmyeon’s eyes scan Jongin over. He’s leaning back against wall; his head tipping back against the window. There are a few bleeding cuts and gashes along his arms, but he seems fine otherwise. “How was your testing?”

Jongin’s gaze drops and Junmyeon blinks in surprise. They’ve hardly been in the Facility for three days and the deadened look in Jongin’s eyes scares him. “Fine.”

“Jongin?”

Sehun sits up at Junmyeon’s tone. He looks over at Jongin despite straining his neck. Physically, Jongin looks fine. However, whatever they did to him in testing seems to have ravaged his mind. “Yixing hyung,” Sehun calls. “Yixing hyung!”

The Chinese man rouses and rolls over to his other side. He sits up, rolling his wrists out. He cocks his head in questioning, but follows their gazes to Jongin. Immediately, he understands what Sehun was calling him for. He slides off his bed and pulls his IV along beside him. Wordlessly, his eyes skim over Jongin’s body. Junmyeon strains his neck to see what’s going on.

“What is he doing?” Junmyeon asks.

Sehun waits for a moment and then Yixing places his hands on Jongin’s chest. “We control wind and water. Yixing hyung can heal things.”

“Heal things?” Junmyeon echoes. He turns back towards Jongin’s bed. The blank expression on the boy’s face relaxes into something resembling relief. He turns to Yixing with a look of awe and appreciation.

Yixing doesn’t say anything, but glances at the heart monitor and then leans forward to check… his pupils? “Is he a doctor?” Junmyeon asks.

Sehun shrugs. “I don’t know. He struggles to speak, so I did most of the talking last night. But from the vague questions I asked him, it’s possible that he could be a doctor. Or training to be.”

“Considering his gift, it would be well suited,” Junmyeon comments.

“Gifts? I think these are curses, hyung.”

“This is why my mind hasn’t broken and yours feels as if it’s falling apart at the seams.”

“What? Optimism?”

“A little bit of positivity,” Junmyeon agrees. He calls over to Jongin now. “How are you feeling?”

Jongin nods slightly. “Better.”

“And your testing?”

“Straining.”

“How’s your head?”

“Empty.”

“Afraid of that.”

Before they can speak more, Nurse Fifty-Nine enters the room. They all turn to look at her. Junmyeon wonders if she’s here to stop Yixing from healing Jongin. However, if that had been the case, it would make sense that one of their nurses came in. She stands before Junmyeon and slides the IV out of his arm. She takes him off the heart monitor and looks him in the eye.

Or at least he tries to look _her_ in the eye through her red visor.

“Come along, Number 1.”

“Where are we going?” Junmyeon asks.

“Your psychological evaluation.”

“Oh.” Junmyeon slides off the bed and rolls his sleeve down. The others watch him go and he can feel their eyes on his back. Down the hallway to his right, he sees Kyungsoo limping towards him. The man cocks his head and Junmyeon flicks his eyes upwards, hoping that Kyungsoo understands where he’s going. With the small nod he receives, Junmyeon assumes he does.

A few doors down the corridor, he knows that the others’ room is stationed. It takes glancing through every door as discreetly as possible, but he finds it down the middle of the hall on his left. He can still directly see his own room, so it’s easy to gauge where they’re staying. Chanyeol catches his eye as he passes. He isn’t sure why this is good information to know, but he files it away in a place where he hopes he’ll remember it.

Junmyeon notes the tablet in his nurse’s hand, but makes no move to try to see it. The last time he asked about it, she’d provided an answer and then he wasn’t able to remember anything after his lunch the following day. What he’s learned so far in being here (other than the fact that he _absolutely_ hates it) is that they’re able to wipe his memories at will and he has no idea how to stop it. He isn’t sure which medications do what.

But at least he knows it’s administered through his medication, which was an easy process of elimination. Unless they’re physically tampering with his brain every night, medication is the only way to do it. However, he knows that either they’re administering it through the medication he takes with his meals or the IV that’s stuck in his arm for part of the day. And from what Kyungsoo has let on over the past two days, it’s that they have them on medication for pain, various sedatives, and something that may be amplifying their already out of control powers.

They stand in front of a door for a few moments, which draws Junmyeon’s attention back to the present. He looks around, unsure of where exactly they are in reference to his room. His mind had drifted with the white walls and sanitary smell of a hospital. Nurse Fifty-Nine is gazing at her tablet and Junmyeon hums patiently, wondering what they’re waiting for.

Without warning, she pulls the door open to reveal a staircase. He wonders if it’s the same one that they brought him down kicking and screaming when he first arrived. When they surface in the lobby of the Facility, he figures it must’ve been. They hang a right down the hallway towards an office nearly directly across from the door they’d entered.

As a consultant for his family’s architectural business, there are some things that he hasn’t lost with all the memory wiping. One of them is the fact that he _remembers_ he’s part of an architectural business. Another is his appreciation for building design. This building is designed in the shape of a hexagon. After being shown various rooms down below, he assumes that the hexagon building has hexagonal rooms and pathways to maximize space.

However, up above, the space is hollowed out with one singular hallway to circle the massive garden at the heart of the floor. There are windows to provide the maximum amount of life. Here above ground, Junmyeon wouldn’t mind staying.

The door opens to Dr. Yi’s room, a name that Kyungsoo had mentioned briefly before they had all fallen asleep. The door falls shut behind him and he hesitates there.

“Come, sit down,” she urges as she looks up from the small stack of files in front of her.

Junmyeon bites the inside of his lip, but his mind can’t conjure up any way of getting out of this. As he slides into the seat, he wonders if he can bust out through the window and get out. He wonders if he could leave this place right now. It comes to him, though, that Kyungsoo seems to have his wits about him. If he had been able to get out, he certainly would have done it already.

Without the thought of escaping in his head, he focuses on the doctor. She’s asking him questions.

“I wasn’t listening,” he states plainly.

Dr. Yi doesn’t seem affected by this. He expects some sort of reprimand, but nothing comes. She repeats her question. She’s asking him about his family business. “I hear you stand to inherit a lot of money. Do you want to go into architectural design?”

Junmyeon hesitates. He chooses his words carefully. “I don’t know what else I would do.”

“Do you not believe that you were bred that way?” Something strikes him at the word ‘bred’. She asks him again. “Do you not believe that they’ve moulded you to become the perfect son to inherit their business? They built it from the ground up.” She adds as an afterthought, “From what I’ve learned.”

Junmyeon just stares back at her. His face remains neutral. This woman isn’t getting anything he doesn’t want to give. She seems to understand this, because she moves onto the next question.

“Can you tell me about your time in Marseilles?”

“Talk about me losing my mind?” he asks quietly.

“If that is how you want to describe it, yes. Losing your mind.”

Junmyeon frowns. “It was exactly as it sounds. I lost my mind for months, because I didn’t understand what was happening to me.”

Dr. Yi jots something down.

“What are you getting from these questions?” Junmyeon asks.

She glances up briefly. “Where your mind is at. Who you are as a person.”

“You’re getting a clear picture of who I am when I’m high on medication?”

“You seem quite coherent to me.”

Junmyeon’s blood is starting to boil. His hands grip the arms of the chair. He feels the wooden arms become wet. He’s losing control. Ducking his head, Junmyeon takes a few deep breaths. Dr. Yi waits him out. Even if his pride is wounded, he doesn’t let that frustrate him. He meets her eye again, his body shaking from the anger in his veins.

“Have I upset you, Number 1?”

“No.”

“If I have, I apologize.”

“I’m fine.”

Dr. Yi gives off no signs either. It seems she has gotten good at pretending as well. Maybe it’s a test that the employees need to pass before they’re hired.

“Only a few more questions.”

The questions become very innocent. She asks about what he did in Marseilles, his likes and dislikes, if he had a girlfriend in France. She asks him if he speaks any French and he responds in kind.

“ _Bien sûr. Vous êtes foulles si vous pensiez que je ne parle pas la langue._ ” (Of course. You're crazy if you thought I couldn't speak the language.)

She nods her head, as if she understands what he’s saying. Junmyeon is well aware she doesn’t. From her accent, she sounds as if she’s spent some time in America. They all speak the same language, but he’s able to gauge whereabouts the others are all from. While many of the nurses are local, Dr. Yi, while she looks local, may not be anymore.

“Last question for you, Number 1, and then you may leave.”

Junmyeon waits.

“Why do you think you’re here?”

The question catches him off guard. He’s been told why he’s here. “To make me better. To help me understand the power I have.”

“I understand that’s what you’ve been told, but do you believe it?”

Kyungsoo’s voice echoes through his mind. “ _She’ll ask you questions that try to trick you into letting on more than you know. Don’t play into her game._ ”

“I… I don’t know why else I would be here.”

Dr. Yi gives one last affirmative nod before the door opens again. She dismisses him, her smile kind. It doesn’t quite reach her eyes. The furrow in her brow and the slight tilt of her head, the way she chews on her bottom lip. He doesn’t know what to make of it now. Nurse Fifty-Nine escorts him back through the lobby floor. There’s another pause at the top of the stairs before she pulls it open and takes him back down. He can feel the temperature shift almost immediately, as if Sehun has been through and taken all the warm air for himself.


	13. Day 7, 18:42

**Day 7, 18:42**

They understand the lay of the land now. Wake up, simulations, lunch, physical tests, dinner. Kyungsoo learns that some of them have been paired up during their simulations. Sehun and Minseok have been working together more frequently, as well as Sehun and Chanyeol. At dinner, Sehun shared with him that he doesn’t feel as important as the others are. It seems the nurses are thinking the same thing and are trying to maximize his science-given ability with another element.

Minseok pulls him back to the conversation. “Doesn’t it feel… harsh?”

“What?”

“This entire experience. They’re trying to help us, but… look at Jongin now. Look at Jongdae. Look at them. _You_ barely look alive right now.”

Kyungsoo nods. “The first week is usually pretty rough, but… we can’t do anything about it. We endure or we die.”

Minseok tilts his head at this. But Kyungsoo doesn’t elaborate and he doesn’t press, but he runs on the blind faith that Kyungsoo will share.

“Do you think that…?”

“We’ll get to leave?” Kyungsoo shrugs. “Sometimes we leave after a week, sometimes two, sometimes a month. It depends on what they’re looking for.”

“And how long does it take you to figure that out?”

Kyungsoo squirms in his seat, uncomfortable under Minseok’s intense gaze. He knows that talking to human beings should feel like talking to Minseok. But for most of his adult life, he’s used to talking to the boys. They’re not all there and can only remember the faintest ideas of who they were.

“A week.”

Minseok licks his bottom lip. “And…?”

“And I have no idea what they’re up to this time.”

“What were reasons before?”

“If we only stayed a week, it was either so that they could refill our medication, change the medication, or just a routine check in. Two weeks meant that they had new things they wanted to test, different aspects of us that they had apparently just thought of. A month involved just us interacting with each other, more free roaming than this and a lot of doctors check ins.”

“So what’s different now?”

Kyungsoo looks around the room and eyes the guards surrounding them. The other conversations sound menial, so they won’t raise red flags. But this conversation can’t be spoken louder than a whisper. He’s worried of raising alarms.

Minseok must sense his hesitation. “Look, even if they know what we’re talking about, won’t they just up our dose and wipe our memories?”

“If you haven’t noticed, the medication doesn’t work as well on us as it does on the others. Sometimes Jongin’s eyes are so bright that I have to look away. I don’t have to do that with you. They’ll up our dose and we’ll feel worse for wear, won’t perform as well because we know what happened and—”

“Kyungsoo, I get it.”

“I just want you to understand what’s at stake here.”

“Yeah, our sanity,” Minseok sighs. He props his head in his hand. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

“I know.”

“What’s different now?” Minseok presses.

Kyungsoo stares at Minseok, wanting desperately to shake his head and stop him from asking. To his dismay, he knows that Minseok won’t stop asking. So he relents a little. “The rigorous testing. We’ve never had to do this.”

“And considering how traumatizing it is for the others, I’d say that it’s something you’d definitely remember.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to talk about it more. They’re already suspicious of him. The one place where they revel in his abilities is in the simulation. Ghost bruises on his hands, healed by Yixing as soon as he sees them, keep him up at night. The air is shifting in the Facility and he isn’t sure where it’s going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet one today. I'll hopefully have time to proof read the next chapter tonight or tomorrow and get that one up too to make up for the shortie :)


	14. Day 10, 14:00

**Day 10, 14:00**

Their nurses enter the room together. Nurse Eighty-Seven moves to unstrap Minseok from the bed. Baekhyun has noticed Minseok’s growing hostility and the nurses seem to be too. It must favour them when he’s in simulation, but otherwise, he’s a liability to the nurses. He vaguely recalls Minseok nearly killing Nurse Eighty-Seven. They had to take her to Yixing to repair the damage.

“Normally,” Nurse Ninety-Eight starts, “we would take you through your physical tests. Instead, we have amassed the data we require from those tests; and today, we’ll be doing a group simulation. The other room will be doing one as well.”

Nurse Sixty-Four continues from there. “There will be three times the number of robots for you to eliminate. We want you to work together and complete your simulation in the least amount of time.”

The nurses never ask if there are any questions, but Chanyeol asks one anyway. “How many times are we going to do it?”

“We have projected that you ought to be able to complete the simulation in 5 minutes,” is the answer.

They glance at each other, but have no further comments to give. Then they’re led out of the room and head past their various training rooms. Baekhyun leads the way, Minseok taking up the rear. Two nurses walk ahead of them and two behind to keep them in line. They stop at the staircase door and the nurses in front consult their tablets as they always do.

Out of habit, Baekhyun pulls a bit of light from the above floor to guide them. Jongdae seems to appreciate this; so Baekhyun leaves a few behind for Sehun too, whom Minseok has shared is afraid of the dark. They step out onto a darker floor and he notices the three others shiver around him. He’s used to it now. It takes a bit of effort for him to create a bit of light around them so it doesn’t seem so dreary.

“It feels like a horror film,” Jongdae comments beside him.

“Don’t say that. It makes me feel worse,” Chanyeol mutters.

As soon as they step out of the stairwell, there are two large double doors, which he has never been through yet. They don’t go through them this time either. They head down the hall, past his and Jongin’s practice rooms, which is down a floor from everyone else’s.

Minseok is quiet the entire time, but every time Baekhyun glances back at him, the older man’s eyes are taking in everything they can. He isn’t sure what sort of threats Minseok’s looking for, but he has been tense the entire walk. It’s much larger than what Baekhyun has had to practice in. The room here is almost four football fields in length and almost just as wide.

“This goes beyond physics,” Jongdae whispers.

Baekhyun glances at him.

“It should be impossible.”

“ _We_ should be impossible,” Baekhyun answers.

Jongdae shakes his head. “Not necessarily. But _this_ is impossible. We should only be able to fit a certain amount of space in a building.”

“We’re underground. Maybe they expanded.”

“Guys, shut up,” Chanyeol hisses.

They stand in a line as the nurses hook them up to their respective monitors. Minseok’s hands are tucked into special gloves that Chanyeol and Baekhyun also sport. Jongdae wears a jacket. They’re plastered with sensors and then their nurses file out of the room. They wait for further instructions and Baekhyun has to wait a while for enough light to fill the room. They’re looking for the observatory room.

“Got it,” Chanyeol says. He nods to the wall across from the door and right at the top. Where the ceiling and wall meet, there’s a window. They can see seven figures inside. Four are their nurses, recognizable from their red visors; one is the technician, the only person sitting.

“Who do you think the other two are?” Minseok asks.

“Doctors?” Jongdae guesses. “They have doctors on standby during our simulations.”

“You can usually see their white coats,” Chanyeol states.

“Casual Friday?” Baekhyun tries.

Jongdae shoots him an exasperated look. “Doubtful. I may not know what day it is exactly, but they don’t tend to do ‘casual’ around here.”

They don’t have any more time for speculation as Nurse Sixty-Four’s voice comes over the speaker. “We will be giving you five minutes to come up with a plan before you hear the warning bell. Three seconds after the warning bell, your opponents will appear. They move like humans and run just as quickly.”

“One day they’re going to tell us they have guns,” Jongdae grumbles.

“This time, a few of them will be armed with weapons.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “Please. Come away with minor scrapes and bruises. We do not believe that Number 10’s ability is good enough to revive humans from the dead.” The speaker crackles, but Baekhyun swears he hears laughter.

“You just had to say guns, didn’t you?” Minseok sighs. They huddle together. “What’s our plan of action?”

“Baek controls light. Chanyeol is our resident pyrotechnic. I can control lightning. Hyung?”

Baekhyun stares at Minseok, wondering why he doesn’t know what his power is. Minseok shoots an icicle out of his palm in the center of their circle. They stare in amazement. Chanyeol reaches out for it and melts the icicle.

“Can you… eliminate?” Jongdae asks.

Minseok nods. He glances at Baekhyun. “How are you eliminating the robots with your power?”

Baekhyun snorts. “I can’t.”

“How do you pass your simulation? Kyungsoo says that Sehun comes back beat up from his morning practice nearly every day,” Minseok says.

Baekhyun looks to Jongdae who shrugs. “Jongdae’s been teaching me how to fight.”

Chanyeol appears just as baffled as Minseok. “What? How? Dae is the least offensive person I know.”

“I’d beg to differ,” Jongdae argues. “I’ve read about it in enough books to understand the general premise.”

“You can’t learn everything in books,” Minseok says.

“Try me. Baekhyun has passed his simulations thanks to my tutelage.”

“I’m going to light your hair on fire if you speak like that again,” Chanyeol warns.

Baekhyun waves them to shut up. “I know we’re all worried how this is going to go, but we can’t get snippy with each other. We only want to do this once, twice if necessary. We need a game plan.”

“If it’s three times the enemies, with the amount I have in training, that’s fifteen for me alone,” Chanyeol says.

“I’m at twenty in simulation,” Jongdae shares. “By three times, that’s sixty.”

“Then add ninety more to that,” Minseok grumbles. “That’s already over a hundred. Baek?”

“Well lucky for us I’m only at three,” Baekhyun says. “So, with our hundred and whatever enemies, what’s our game plan? Hyung, are you fast? Is that why you’re already fighting thirty?”

“Speed and practice,” Minseok answers. “I used my power when I wasn’t here. I know how to control it.”

Baekhyun furrows his brow slightly. “Okay…” But now’s not the time to ask questions. “Well with Jongdae, then that covers a lot of the field.” He turns his attention to his tallest roommate. “Chanyeol, how do you use yours?”

“Burn them to death,” he answers plainly. “I can burn up to six fires at a time, more if they’re smaller and not quite as hot.”

“How hot does it have to be for an instant kill?” Baekhyun asks.

“No idea. But I can do two at a time if that’s how we’re playing it.”

“Instant kills are preferable. No chance of them coming back to life.”

“What about you?” Minseok asks.

“They said that the robots act as humans, so with that in mind, I figured that if I shut the lights off they couldn’t see. I can make a dim enough light for you to be able to see, but not for them. Obviously, you can’t see very far, but it gives you a small radius.”

“Since when did you get so technical?” Jongdae asks.

Baekhyun shrugs. “Talking tactics with Jongin and Sehun has taught me a few things.”

“Jonginie can’t seriously think his power is useless,” Minseok huffs. “They like him the best in here. His power is so different from ours.”

“Okay, we don’t have time to discuss this anymore. What’s our plan of action?” Jongdae demands.

“Well I mean…” Chanyeol looks around the room. “We don’t even know if we can do this. We might as well see what happens the first time around and reconvene between each reset.”

“That doesn’t sound like a plan that’s going to get us out of here in two goes,” Baekhyun points out.

They begin to spread out along the wall closest to them, used to the ‘enemies’ coming from the walls opposite the door.

“I don’t think we’re going to get out of here in two goes,” Chanyeol says, staring straight ahead. “But when have we gotten out of anything in two goes here?”

“I was hoping today was going to be one of them,” Baekhyun sighs.

The warning bells goes off.

_3…_ His hands are clammy.

_2…_ The others adjust themselves into a fighting stance.

_1._

The sound of a large door pulling open draws their attention to the left, underneath the observatory room. Then they hear another sliding open directly across from them.

“They expect us to stop an ambush,” Jongdae states.

“Is it possible?” Minseok asks as he takes a step forward.

“It’s—”

“Jongdae-yah, _is it possible_?” Chanyeol enunciates. “We need the logic answer. Are we walking into a death trap?”

“Ever heard of the movie 300?” Jongdae asks. He and Chanyeol are already following Minseok across the field. Baekhyun trails behind them, his arms pulled into himself as he draws all the light toward him. He catches parts of Jongdae’s story, his mind winking in and out of focus. He underestimated the size of the room and amount of effort it would require.

“The short version, Dae,” Minseok pleads. They’re almost close enough that they can strike.

“300 Greek men met a million Persians in a mountain range during a war and somehow won.”

“And is that you telling us this is possible?” Chanyeol demands. “That’s a myth.”

“No, it’s a legend. And statistics,” Jongdae argues. “There were different elements at play. They weren’t fighting on a flat battlefield. Those Greeks knew the terrain. Sure, 300 was probably an overexaggeration. Or under however you wanna see it, but the point is they were outnumbered.”

“We’re fighting on a flat battlefield in terrain we don’t know!” Baekhyun exclaims. The room is almost entirely dark, the enemy hurrying directly for them. As the lights blink out, Baekhyun hears the first strike. Minseok’s icicle pierces the metal and wiring in the robot.

“But we have an extreme advantage.” Jongdae’s lightning explodes the room into light and they can see where the robots are. The nearest one near Baekhyun gets blinded by a large pulse of light in the face. Then he catches the robot around the stomach with his legs. He twists his body on top of the robot and grabs underneath the chin, snapping its neck. He jumps off and lands just behind Minseok.

“Look at that. You _can_ learn fighting from books,” Minseok huffs. Baekhyun keeps the light near the sides of their heads as they move.

However, then the robots with the firearms start shooting. A few of them have close range weapons. Baekhyun has to make the lights brighter, ruining their element of surprise.

“Baek!” Minseok shouts. Baekhyun’s nose goes cold and he cracks open one eye to see a blade near his face. “Baek! Don’t hesitate!” The robot is already shaking the ice off its arm and is about to strike again. Baekhyun ducks underneath and tackles the robot to the ground. He goes for the head once, twice. Then the mechanics go limp, the sword forgotten on the side.

It starts becoming an overwhelming affair and after seven minutes, they’re corralled into the center. They’re taking hits from all sides. Chanyeol’s fires are good for the ones that fight unarmed, but getting shot at or poked with knives and swords throws off his concentration.

“We’re gonna lose this round,” Baekhyun says as he takes another hit. His light stuns five robots around him and he wrestles for a gun out of one of their hands, knocking him over the back of the head with it. He watches the machine go down before firing the four rounds in its chamber, taking out three more. When Minseok shouted at him to use the guns if he could get them, he quickly learned that shooting accuracy was another skill in itself. His fourth shot got lost in the dark abyss.

“Well considering— _YAH!_ ” Minseok roars a sort of battle cry as he forces a large icicle through two robots at once. “Considering that we’ve definitely been at this for fifteen minutes at least— _Jongdae, watch yourself_!” He grabs Jongdae by the scruff of the neck and yanks him out of reach of the sword. “Attack one at a time. You don’t need the recharge as much,” he says quickly. And then he continues on with his previous sentence. “We’ve already lost their simulation.”

“So why haven’t they stopped us yet?” Chanyeol yells. He and Jongdae are working to stun them, but it’s gotten so overpowering that they’ve also had to engage in actual combat. He ducks underneath a sword swing and tackles the robot in the torso, his hands heating quickly and burning the robot through.

“Our first run… they’re probably seeing how long we can go for,” Jongdae says. He’s underneath at least two enemies and is building up to one final blow. He isn’t sure he has that much more left in him.

“I’m tired,” Baekhyun whines; as he links his arms through Minseok’s, lines up back-to-back and swings the older man around.

Minseok sighs. He doesn’t tend to tucker out during his personal tests, but he’s expended more energy here than he has before. “Can we tap out?”

Suddenly, a bell rings through the room and the robots left standing go limp and collapse to the floor.

“ _Take a break_ ,” one of their nurses says over the speaker. “ _The test will recommence in 20 minutes_.”

With a sigh, Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Minseok fall to the ground. Jongdae shoves off the robots that had nearly killed him. Minseok is doing a ‘body’ count. “We nearly got them all,” he says, sounding impressed. “I think there were about four or five left.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t do it in the five minutes they wanted us to do it in,” Jongdae points out. His eyes are taking in the pipes above them. His mind is trying to work out how a room like this can exist. The proportions are impossible.

Baekhyun flexes his hands and lets more light fill the room. They blink in an attempt to readjust to the brightness. “Five minutes seems impossible. Are they really going to keep going until we hit it?”

“Baek’s right,” Minseok says.

This gets the three others to look at him as if he’s insane. There are many things that Minseok has said about Baekhyun. Being right hasn’t been one of them. Minseok is aware of this, but continues. “He was right when he said we needed a strategy. Now that we’ve done it once, do we have any ideas?” He starts first. “Jongdae being able to get multiples at once could work to our advantage.”

“The only problem there is that it wipes me out every time.” He rolls his sleeves up to show the black burn marks that run up his arms. “I think it happens when I overexert myself.”

“Do you think you can push yourself anymore?” Minseok asks.

Jongdae takes a deep breath. “In twenty minutes, maybe. I can do _at least_ five good ones.”

“Then we’ll have to spread it out. Singles?”

“Singles are easy,” Jongdae reassures him. He lies down on the ground, his arms spreading out as he catches his breath.

Baekhyun looks to Chanyeol. “I think that heating through the robots is effective when it’s down to the wire. But you gotta work on your hand-to-hand combat.”

Chanyeol nods. “I’ve never needed to use it during personal testing before. There are never usually that many, or I have elements that help me out.”

“Elements?”

“Forests and things.”

“There are forests in your testing room?” Minseok demands.

“Yeah and they tend to work to my advantage. But I can’t do much with… sand.” He picks up a handful of it and lets the sand fall through his fingers. “I think it’s snuffing out some of the flame too.”

“Hyung, you’re good already. I think we need you on the front line,” Baekhyun says.

“So me and Baek are going to be in the middle of it. Jongdae is our last line of defence. You won’t be able to see much, so I think you’ll have to hone your hearing to hear where we are and where the enemies are so you don’t get us,” Minseok says.

“And how do you expect me to do that?”

“We’re superhuman,” Minseok states.

“To a point,” Jongdae answers. “I can’t just make my hearing better.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Blind people can do it. Why can’t you?”

“They do it out of necessity!” he protests.

Minseok flicks a bit of ice at him. “Make this a necessity.”

Jongdae sighs. “I can try, but I probably won’t be able to do it while we’re in here.”

“Try your best,” Baekhyun says.

“And if I get one of you?”

“We’re superhuman,” Chanyeol snorts. “Remember?”

 

The group testing ends two and a half hours later. The boys are sure that the only reason it stopped was because Jongdae nearly passed out three times and accidentally got Minseok once. The nurses said nothing about their performance, which also included no disapproving remarks about not hitting the 5-minute target.

The walk back to their rooms with the knowledge that dinner will be served in bed is both comforting and discouraging. They want to eat dinner with the others, but as they pass the room on the way back, Baekhyun catches sight of a few seemingly lifeless bodies.

However, it’s the first time he’s felt no real concern. He’s pretty sure when he lies in bed, he’ll want to do the same thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still in the process of adjusting to my new semester schedule and trying to find time for things other than sleep and school. But I think I've sorta figured something out :) Hopefully, this story won't get put on the back burner~


	15. Day 11, 19:30

**Day 11, 19:30**

He’s the last interview of the day. Minseok knows that they always start with Kyungsoo and they always end with him. Some of the boys never have to sit with the doc, like Chanyeol or Sehun. The others don’t tend to go in every day. So he knows that either they’ve caught on to what he and Kyungsoo discuss every night, or they know that the two of them are pretty coherent no matter the medication.

“How are you doing, Number 99?”

“Same as I was doing yesterday,” he mutters.

“I suggested that we skip the interview last night, because of your practice, but they insisted we have the interview,” Dr. Yi says as way of apology. He had been forced to sit through a mindless interrogation about things he can’t remember. All he really recalls is saying nothing of substance.

He doesn’t acknowledge her anyway and makes no movement. From what he’s observed of the others, they struggle to grasp short-term memories. Something in their long term is fighting to push through. So he tries to channel this feeling of casual vacancy whenever he’s around the nurses. With Dr. Yi, he goes for cold indifference, as she tends to be the most real with him.

“So, Number 99, now that you’ve had time to digest what happened yesterday, let’s discuss how you felt about group testing.”

Minseok runs his tongue along his teeth, stalling for time. When Kyungsoo had returned after his brief talk with Dr. Yi earlier that night, Minseok had lifted an eyebrow in question. Kyungsoo made his lips disappear in response and he understood it to mean to be careful with what he said. Kyungsoo hadn’t mentioned anything about psych evaluations, which either meant it was something he was keeping in the dark or it was something Kyungsoo was not anticipating.

From how kind this woman is, Minseok assumes it’s the latter. She’s a complete greenie. The people he’s met here are cold. There is never any hesitation in punishing them when they fail simulations, no hesitation when Nurse Eighty-Seven straps him down, no hesitation when Junmyeon came in kicking and screaming his first day.

“You can be honest,” she says.

Minseok blinks in surprise. That has never been something said before. She has never asked explicitly for honesty. He studies her for a moment in a vain attempt to read something off her expression. But if he’s good at keeping his composure, so is Dr. Yi, no matter how much of a greenie she is.

When he gives no answer, she states simply that it will benefit their research further if he’s honest. He doesn’t question why his honesty will help the research specifically today; he just goes straight into it. He talks about how he liked not being alone and being part of a team was better than anything else they had conjured up.

“In this hell hole, it’s actually nice to have other people on your side.”

Dr. Yi’s expression twitches, but nothing else gives her away. “I would be careful how you phrase your words.”

Minseok doesn’t bother. He keeps his retelling quite honest. If he’s going to get caught for something, they’re going to catch him today. If they don’t catch him today, it’s going to be a day in the future. The feeling after walking out of that group testing and failing pulled at him when he tried to sleep. The others didn’t seem bothered, but it was hard to tell what anyone was truly feeling anymore. They were either so high on medication or they were just trying to get through a day.

After sharing the flaws he found in the testing, one of them being the expected elimination time, Dr. Yi has nothing left to ask him. He seems to have answered all her questions, or she doesn’t believe it necessary to continue. Her head tips down so she can complete a few more notes and he stands to leave, understanding the dismissal. The room is so quiet that he hears her intake of breath as if she has something more to say, but as he slows his walk, nothing comes.

“I will see you tomorrow, Number 99.”

Nurse Eighty-Seven is already waiting for him outside the office. He doesn’t call a goodbye to Dr. Yi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet one today. Will post a longer one this weekend.


	16. Day 12, 8:00

**Day 12, 8:00**

Each nurse wakes her test subject at 800 hours. As Baekhyun looks up into his nurse’s face, he can’t help but sigh.

“Good morning, Baekhyun,” Nurse Ninety-Eight whispers. She’s stretching over him as if to adjust his IV. She started greeting him by name a few days ago, as he panicked every time she woke him. To have someone remember his name soothes him slightly.

He never responds to her, but he slowly sits up. He looks around the room, the walls still in tact and pristinely white. He’d been having a really odd dream about… crumbling walls. The details are hazy now as his mind becomes overpowered by medication, but he’s sure he’s had the dream multiple nights in a row. Weird memories are being drudged up and he isn’t sure what to make of them. He isn’t even sure if they’re memories at all.

When he looks over, he catches Nurse Eighty-Seven injecting something into Minseok’s IV. When Minseok’s gaze swings his way, it strikes him that Minseok’s eyes seem a brighter blue than normal. However, he can hardly remember what happened three days ago let alone if Minseok’s eyes have been getting brighter or not.

Nurse One, who they don’t see very often, enters the room. She doesn’t wear a visor, but she doesn’t tend to spend much time with them anyway. So perhaps she’s not worried about catching whatever all of them are trekking around, or she gets the privilege of showing her face.

“Today, we have a new assessment for you.”

The boys stay quiet, all four of them eyeing her carefully.

“You will participate in another group test.” This doesn’t perk their interest. They’ve done this before. “You will be put onto a field versus the other boys. This time, you aren’t fighting to kill. Just to debilitate.” Nurse One begins backing out of the room. “You will be given an hour for your breakfast and then will be escorted to the testing field.”

In the time that Nurse One had been talking, their personal nurses returned with food. Nurse Eighty-Seven unstraps Minseok’s arms and lays the tray across his lap. She doesn’t help him up, nor does he get up until all the nurses have left the room. Then Chanyeol walks over to help him up.

“What do you think she meant by ‘this time’ we aren’t fighting to kill?” Jongdae enquires.

Baekhyun had heard that too. “Maybe she meant like… last time we were taking those robots out.”

“Yeah, but she said eliminate then. They’re using ‘kill’ now,” Jongdae presses.

“I don’t think we’re leaving early this time,” Baekhyun states. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

Minseok bites his lip. There are a lot of gaps in his memory. As he feeds himself, he tries to pull memories from Berlin, but those are spotty. His first time in the Facility is harder to piece together. He is aware that they’re there, but he has to really reach for them. It’s tiring, but he doesn’t want to lose them. At dinner, Kyungsoo has told him, “Don’t lose what parts of yourself you’ve salvaged, hyung. It’s harder to remember if you let go.”

“This isn’t our first time here,” Baekhyun mutters now. They’ve gotten very good at communicating without looking at each other and without moving their lips.

“It’s not?” Jongdae and Chanyeol demand in unison.

Baekhyun catches Minseok’s watchful eye. “I’m sure of it.” He shovels some of the less than adequate food into his mouth. Minseok has decided that it’s their version of mashed potatoes.

Jongdae asks how he knows.

“When I go in for testing, I can anticipate what they’ll ask me to do. It’s as if they’ve asked me to do it before, but then they always add a dangerous twist. Hide somewhere; take something down. I don’t remember having to fight before.”

Jongdae looks skeptical. “Well obviously you’d know what they’re going to ask you, they’ve been doing it for days on end now. Even if we can’t remember anything, our muscles do.”

“This is different,” Baekhyun insists. “The fighting is different.”

Minseok can’t say he remembers the fighting from their first round either. He remembers the tests about his power. He remembers having to push his hands in a makeshift speedometer. They measured the force he could put behind a shot. They tested how accurate he could be, how sharp he could make an icicle. But not once had they ever asked him to use it against someone.

“We’re going to have to hit them,” Chanyeol says now.

“We’re going to have to hurt them,” Baekhyun agrees.

“But we don’t have to kill them,” Jongdae adds. “We’ll see them at dinner and we’ll apologize.”

Minseok glances at the three younger boys. They talk like this, finishing each other’s sentences, offering encouragements. He eats in silence as they speak. It’s comforting to know that they have each other, and that even if their minds are blocked it doesn’t hinder their friendship.

Suddenly, Baekhyun stirs him from his thoughts and is sitting on his bed. “Hyung.” Jongdae and Chanyeol are also now sharing a bed, discussing strategy briefly before turning the conversation to music.

Minseok lifts an eyebrow in response to Baekhyun’s address.

“What do you know about Kyungsoo?”

Minseok is taken aback by this question. “Kyungsoo?”

“Number 12?”

“I know who he is.” Minseok is tempted to raise a hand in a mock threat, but the cameras are definitely trained on him. Since he doesn’t want to be strapped down during meal times too, he’s learned to keep all sorts of his impulses in check.

“I just…” Baekhyun’s eyes drop to his hands. “I just wanted to know about him.”

“Why Kyungsoo in particular?”

Baekhyun tilts his head. “I don’t know. I feel as if I know him from somewhere, but he won’t talk to me.”

Minseok and Kyungsoo have moved on from escape during their dinner chats, as Kyungsoo continues to remind him again and again that it is impossible. So they’ve turned to life in and out of the Facility. The word ‘escape’ never leaves their mouths and Minseok feels as if he’s slowly losing his mind anyway. Probably best to do that in a cage than out in the world.

“Do you want to talk to him tonight?” Minseok enquires as he finishes his plate.

“I want…” The younger one’s voice gets caught and he only nods. It seems something about Kyungsoo has completely enraptured his roommate and he has no idea why.

Jongdae informs them that their hour is almost up. Nurse Eighty-Seven enters the room to unlock his ankles, while the other three wait for him outside. Down the hall, Sehun leads the others out of the room. The ominous looks on their faces means that they’ve discussed tactics.

“What’s our plan?” Jongdae murmurs.

“If you’re going to strike, follow through,” Minseok answers as he trails behind.

When they meet the others, they’re led in two lines through the maze of halls.

Baekhyun walks alongside Kyungsoo whose head is ducked. He can’t help but glance at him out of the corner of his eye every so often. However, Kyungsoo never lifts his head.

 

**Day 12; 9:13**

The obstacle course is on the same floor as their smaller group testing. However, they head towards the large double doors they’d passed. The boys swallow down their fear, particularly Sehun whose hands won’t stop shaking.

“Hey,” Jongin whispers. He’s standing behind him in line as they enter the room. “We’re a team. We’re right here with you.”

Sehun nods his head, his light hair catching the small bulbs of light they’ve allowed in the field. He really just wants to go home now. Wherever home is. He’d take living on the streets than the Facility at this point. Sehun closes his eyes and lets warm air wrap him in a comforting hug. When he learned that it was real, that he could in fact control the air and wind, Sehun had been a mix of confused and excited.

Now it’s fear.

Fear settles in places he didn’t know it could and he can’t shake it off anymore.

Kyungsoo reaches back for Sehun’s hand when he hears his breathing picking up. “Right here, Sehun-ah. We’re all here.”

Everyone glances at him, shooting sympathetic looks and subtle thumbs up. As they enter the football size field they have to compete in, a sinking feeling sweeps through them.

“What the hell…”

Kyungsoo’s nurse turns to face them and the boys fan out into a straight line. She waits for Jongin to take his place before speaking.

“Welcome to your second group testing. If you have not realized, we want to see what sort of teamwork you can conjure up in high-stress situations.” She glances over at Sehun, but all the boys stand straight, ready to defend him. Kyungsoo goes so far to move in front of him, blocking his nurse from staring Sehun down any further.

Her gaze falls away to scan them through her visor. “You have been told what you’re meant to do. The test will run for an hour or until one entire team is disabled.” Nurse Three’s voice drops an octave and it sends shivers down their spines. “If you choose not to participate, there will be consequences.” She moves to leave. They see the skybox and can count their nurses plus a few people in lab coats and two technicians. “Today is not a day to test us, boys. You have ten minutes to prepare yourselves before the warning buzzer.”

“医生易是呀?” _(Is that Dr. Yi?)_ Yixing asks.

Sehun, the only one who can understand him, looks. “Dr. Yi is here.”

The boys begin to split up. “Don’t hold back,” Kyungsoo calls over his shoulder to the other team. “We won’t.”

They’ve gotten used to Kyungsoo telling them how to act. It’s kept them more or less alive in here. And having someone who seems to know what’s going on is comforting.

“We’ll try to make this as quick as possible, hmm?” Minseok calls.

Kyungsoo nods his head. He leads his team to the opposite end of the field. “Right, I _know_ that none of you want to do this, but we need to talk strategy. They’re good.”

Junmyeon rubs his arm and shifts his weight to his left leg. “How can you tell?”

“Minseok hyung told me about their testing briefly before we went for our evaluations last night,” Kyungsoo admits. “And they lasted way longer than we did.”

Their mini group testing had not gone awfully, but it hadn’t gone particularly well either. Sehun still struggled to grasp his power and what it could do for him. Yixing’s power was useful, but not in a battle situation. It was good that he was skilled in hand-to-hand combat otherwise they would have really been screwed during their testing. Jongin tends to be quite individualistic and struggles to fight in a cohesive unit. Only Junmyeon stands at his side and listens to instructions.

Not that they had gone into that group testing with much to go on anyway.

“What happens if we lose?” Jongin asks.

Kyungsoo’s lips pull into a tight line. Many of the questions that his roommates have been asking him lately, he hasn’t been able to answer. They’ve changed the game on him and while certain things he can expect, he isn’t 100% sure like he was before. “Let’s not find out.”

“There’s no way for all of us to win?” Junmyeon asks.

Kyungsoo looks across the field, taking in the forest that the others have hidden behind. He tugs Junmyeon’s arm and leads them towards the mountain range on their side of the field. They stare up at the peaks they’ll have to climb to get to shelter.

“I think this is why we have the mountain range,” Jongin states. He grabs Sehun’s arm and Yixing. “It’s a bit easier if you hold your breath.”

“What are we doing?” Sehun asks.

Jongin tilts his head.

“No.” Sehun yanks his arm away. “I’m already extremely uncomfortable if you haven’t noticed. Take hyung first.”

Jongin nods and holds a hand out to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo claps his hand in Jongin’s. Jongin pulls them forward and in a blink of an eye they’re on the other side of the mountain range. Kyungsoo’s arms feel like jelly and he has to blink a bit to get his bearings. Yixing is already standing straight, but Kyungsoo assumes that’s because the man is unbelievably healthy.

“Be quick. We need to talk strategy and we’ve got about seven minutes if I’ve been counting right.”

“Will do, hyung,” Jongin says.

Junmyeon comes next and Jongin disappears in a snap before Kyungsoo can ask what the hell is going on.

“Jongin said to start without them,” Junmyeon says.

“What happened?”

“Kid’s having a panic attack. He’s not doing too well in here,” Junmyeon answers. “I tried to calm him down, but I might have only made it worse.”

“Why is he suddenly so unsure of himself?” Kyungsoo runs a hand through his hair. He’s sure that one day his hair will start thinning from being stressed out all the time, but nope, he’s still got a full head of unnaturally red hair.

“I’m not sure why the dark scares him so much, but it’s terrifying him.”

“Well our first strategy is to not expect Sehun to run around in the dark.”

Junmyeon’s brow furrows.

Kyungsoo sometimes forgets the others don’t have complete memories the way he does. “Baekhyun can control light. If I know Minseok hyung at all, he’s going to take advantage of that fact. We’ll be fighting in the dark.”

“How do you expect us to win now?”

“That’s why I need four other heads, not just mine working. I need ideas, because I’m running out of them.” He looks up at the mountain range. “How far do you think we can see from there?”

“Pretty far,” Yixing answers.

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow. Yixing doesn’t speak much and any input at all is impressive. “You mountain climb?”

Yixing shrugs. “Probably.”

Kyungsoo chuckles. Slowly, he says, “I’ll get Jongin to send you up. I know you won’t be able to see much, but maybe you can get an advantage. We want you out of their way.”

Yixing seems to understand and nods. Kyungsoo turns to Junmyeon. “You, Jongin and me are going to be on the offensive.”

“What’s the strategy?”

“Jongin is going to do whatever he wants anyway. He’s not going to listen to us. But we’re going to try that idea you came up with last night”

“Use the wave as a shield and you bust through? We’ve never practiced it.”

“Now’s the time to try it.”

“And if it doesn’t work and you drown in there?”

Kyungsoo tips his head both ways. “Something I’m willing to risk.”

Junmyeon frowns. “I don’t like that. You don’t understand how much we all rely on you.”

“You really shouldn’t,” Kyungsoo answers. He takes a couple steps back when Jongin and Sehun appear. Sehun is on his back, his long legs nearly going around Jongin twice it seems. His eyes are shut tight and his face is buried in Jongin’s neck.

“See? It wasn’t so bad.”

“You might as well keep him like that. Hun-ah, you’re going to go back out to the front,” Kyungsoo says. “Can your wind carry a person?”

Sehun hums in response.

“I think that means yes,” Jongin says.

“Then you’re going to carry Yixing whenever we need him.” Kyungsoo’s gaze drops to Jongin. “I need you to bring Yixing to the top of the range and tell me what you see when you drop him off there.”

Jongin nods. “Okay, boss.” He hoists Sehun up a bit higher and reaches for Yixing’s hand. “We’re gonna go again, Sehun-ah.” Jongin makes a noise that sounds like choking, but disappears with Yixing.

Kyungsoo and Junmyeon stand together, taking in the silence. Junmyeon tugs his sleeve. “Seriously, K-Kyungsoo-yah.” The name stumbles off his tongue, they don’t tend to use names too often. “We need you in here. I don’t want to try something that might get you killed.”

“Anything in here can get us killed, but we’re superhuman, remember?”

“You don’t know if that plays a part,” Junmyeon insists. “Seriously, Kyungsoo—”

Kyungsoo shoots him a look. “We don’t have many options, hyung. We’re gonna try it. You won’t hurt me.”

Kyungsoo straightens when Jongin reappears. “I dropped Sehun off in front. You probably didn’t have anything else to tell him.”

“No, not really. Keep yourself around the field, okay? Don’t stay still for too long. They’ll have the advantage of sight.”

“Hyung, you’re worrying too much.”

Junmyeon rolls his eyes and nudges Jongin slightly. “Listen to him, will you? You might not be scared like the rest of us, but you’ll get your ass kicked if you don’t win either. We need to be a _team_.”

Jongin nods, but Kyungsoo knows Jongin too well by now. The kid has spent a lot of time on his own, travelling around the world and trying to escape being caught. He grabs hold of their hands and Kyungsoo takes a deep breath before they snap to the other side of the range. Sehun is spinning miniature tornados at his feet and looks up when they appear.

“Are we ready?” Junmyeon enquires.

Jongin gives his hands a shake. Kyungsoo watches the forest carefully for any signs of movement. Junmyeon is creates small waves before them, which soaks the ground at their feet. Glancing up at the top of the mountains, it’s hard to pick out Yixing in his white uniform and the rocky terrain, but he’s sitting almost as if in meditation. Sehun’s breathing has evened out as the reality of what they’re doing has settled.

The buzzer goes and almost immediately the lights zap out.

“Yixing! Anything?” Kyungsoo calls.

They aren’t about to go in blind.

“No!”

They wait carefully, listening for movement.

“They’re coming!” Yixing shouts.

The others look across the field and the faintest light seems to be coming towards them. “Jongin,” Kyungsoo says.

He feels the breeze that takes Jongin away.

“Sehun-ah, stay hidden and out of their way.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“We’ll call if we need you.” He reaches for Junmyeon’s sleeve and they start across the field to meet the small lights halfway.

A warm breeze blows around him and he hears Sehun’s whisper, “Be careful, guys.”

“Good to know he can do _that_ ,” Junmyeon murmurs as they continue into the dark abyss. Kyungsoo stumbles over a small pothole in the ground. They’ve hardly started and suddenly lightning streaks across the sky and they hear a solid thud hit the ground. Junmyeon is shouting before Kyungsoo has realized what is going on.

“Xing, Hun-ah! Center field!”

The room is dark again, but Sehun must have seen Jongin go down. Jongdae must have gotten him right out of the sky. A wall of fire blazes ahead of them, which Junmyeon immediately puts out. Out of nowhere, Minseok is before them. Junmyeon rushes away to find Chanyeol while Minseok and Kyungsoo are left to dual it out. Minseok’s icicles are easy to evade, but once he starts spraying ice towards him that he feels pass through his body, he feels himself slow down. Kyungsoo shakes his head and tackles Minseok to the ground.

Then he stares down at Minseok, his legs straddling him, because he can’t do what he has to do to end this. Minseok takes advantage of his hesitation and blasts him in the chest with ice. Kyungsoo flies back and feels the cold spread through his chest. He has to take deep breaths to get his bearings.

“Sehun-ah!” he calls.

Yixing is over him in a minute, his hands hovering over his chest. The light comes off his hands and spreads through his body, melting the ice away. “Better?” he asks.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Take a second, okay?” Yixing calls for Sehun and strong gust of wind lifts him up and takes him away.

Junmyeon hurries over him, nearly tripping over his legs. He bends down to help Kyungsoo up. “Okay?”

“Yeah. What’s happening?”

“Jongin got Chanyeol down.”

“I’m expecting them to use Jongdae again then,” Kyungsoo says. “Let’s go.” He can still feel the chill of Minseok’s aftermath and wiggles his fingers to make sure they’re still working. “We’re gonna try the wave, okay?”

“I told you that I don’t think we should.”

“We’re running around in the dark getting attacked by our friends with doctors watching our every move and Sehun is about this close to having another panic attack because his older brother is out here trying to hurt him.”

“Older brother?”

“Oh shit. Pretend I didn’t say that. But will you please take all that into consideration? We don’t have _time_ to think about whether you’ll kill me or not. Something else is going to.”

A barrage of lightning crackles on their side of the field. He can’t see Yixing, but he watches Sehun’s tall figure crumple.

“We know where they’re going. We’re gonna take him out first.” They hurry towards the base of the mountains.

“What about the other two?”

“Jongin will deal with them, but Minseokie hyung can take us all out on his own.” The lightning had given Kyungsoo just enough orientation to be aware of where Minseok was on the field. His eyes have gotten used to the dark, as have Junmyeon’s, so seeing the small orb of light bobbing next to Minseok’s face helps to single him out.

“Wave, hyung,” Kyungsoo says to Junmyeon as they get nearer. He can pick out Minseok’s soft footfalls in their uneven rhythm to their own.

“Are you—?”

“We’re not discussing—”

Before he can finish his reply, he hears the sound of a wave rumbling along the ground. Then something cracks, as if ice is breaking and he feels the cold air before he feels it. This is much easier to get through and he doesn’t have to hold his breath. He’s guessing here, but he punches through the ice wall in as steady of a punch as he can muster. It cracks in the middle and he rushes the wall.

Crashing through on the other side, just as one more strike of lightning touches ground, he sees Minseok there with Jongin on the ground and Yixing ice-shackled to the mountain wall. The strength that he’d mustered to get through the wall Minseok had created took a lot out of him, but he manages to get a bit more energy behind the throw and connects with Minseok’s gut. He watches Minseok’s body slam back into the wall next to Yixing.

Junmyeon is at his heels, running through the person-sized hole in the ice wall he’d created. He quickly takes in the scene and hurries over to Yixing. With his elbows, he breaks the bind on Yixing’s right hand. “Soo, it’s too tough. I’ll break my hand at this rate.”

Kyungsoo’s hands are frozen and the cold feels as if it’s seeped right into his bones. Junmyeon, noticing this, wraps an arm around his waist and helps him move over to Yixing. “Can you move at all?”

“Y-yeah, g-gimme a second.” His teeth chatter involuntarily together and he takes a deep breath in a vain attempt to stop it. It takes a couple tries to get his fingers to work, but once he can ball them into fists, he breaks the other three ice blocks Minseok had created. Yixing lands on his feet and rests his hands on Kyungsoo’s shoulders.

The warmth that spreads isn’t enough to take the chill away. “Longer is better,” Yixing says.

“We don’t have time. We need Jongin and Sehun up.”

Yixing nods and kneels over Jongin, who had taken a lighter bout of lightning. The air glows around Yixing’s hands again and his hair flutters with a breeze they can’t feel. He moves around to Jongin’s head and hovers his hands over his temples. They see Jongin’s eyes blink open just as Yixing moves to help Sehun.

Jongin is struggling to sit up when Junmyeon and Kyungsoo come over to him. Junmyeon hoists him up and holds him by the waist while he orients himself in the dark. “What happened?”

“I think Jongdae was helping Minseokie hyung out,” Kyungsoo says.

“Where’s hyung?”

“Somewhere over there,” Junmyeon says. “He’ll be fine. I think.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer this, because he has no idea. “Are you okay to get us over to their end of the field?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Kyungsoo is about to take Jongin’s other side, but stops when he thinks about Baekhyun. “Uhm, actually, I think you guys should just do it. We don’t want to overwhelm them completely.”

“Got it, hyung.”

“Just enough to knock them out,” Kyungsoo instructs. “Nothing more.”

“We got it, Soo,” Junmyeon reassures him.

Then they’re gone.

Kyungsoo joins Yixing next to Sehun. He grabs Yixing’s wrist when he moves to the temples, intending to bring him to consciousness. “Leave him. I think it’ll be better if he wakes on his own. Check on hyung, please.”

Yixing gets up wordlessly. He rests one hand over Kyungsoo’s head as he passes. Kyungsoo sits next to Sehun’s head and listens carefully. No sound travels across the field, but after three long minutes, he hears the buzzer go.

“ _We will take you up to your rooms_ ,” Nurse Three says over the speaker.

 

**Day 12, 17:54**

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

The beat is steady and he watches the green line on the monitor peak and flatten with the heartbeat. Junmyeon is lying on the bed. It appears as if he’s sleeping, but Baekhyun knows he’s not just sleeping.

_Coma._

The window behind him looks out into a hallway, but also into another room. Pink hair faces him; the owner’s head is down. A bandage is wrapped around his right hand.

_Power gone wrong._

Then in the hallway, a black tear appears in the air and suddenly Jongin steps through. Their gazes lock and that jerks Baekhyun awake. He can hear how heavy his breathing is.

“Ah, Number 4, you’re awake. It’s almost dinner time,” Nurse Ninety-Eight says. She injects something into his IV. “Are you up for going?”

Baekhyun looks around the room. Minseok is strapped down again. He’s not in the white uniform. His entire torso is wrapped in bandages. To his left, Jongdae and Chanyeol are slowly coming to. Chanyeol is nursing a black eye. Jongdae is heaving deep breaths, as if he can’t inhale enough air. And maybe he can’t with the neck brace.

“Dinner?”

Nurse Ninety-Eight hums. “If you are not up for going to dinner with the others, you may remain here.”

“Is Min— _Number 99_ coming?”

She gives him a slight head nod for catching his slip. “No, I do not think that Number 99 will be going to dinner. He will be going for his psychological evaluation in the morning.”

“Oh.”

“And you will have yours after dinner.”

“I’ll go then.”

Jongdae and Chanyeol are already on their feet. They glance at Minseok, but there is no way he’s joining them. As Baekhyun tries to slide off the bed as well, he realizes he has his own neck brace.

Baekhyun stares in horror at his roommates. Then he turns to his nurse. “Why am I wearing this?”

She helps him off the bed. “You suffered a few injuries as well during the testing this morning,” is all the explanation she offers. Then she leads the three boys out of the room. The other five are already seated around the table and nearly jump out of their seats when they enter.

Baekhyun’s eyes go over all of them. Jongin has a black ash mark down the side of his head. Yixing and Kyungsoo are wrapped in blankets. Sehun is running a rubber ball between his hands, shaking slightly. Junmyeon looks to be the only one who got out of the test unscathed.

They take their places. The others shoot them questioning looks, enquiring desperately about Minseok. But they won’t speak until the nurses leave. The guards have worn their earplugs every meal. No one is sure if they are faking it, but there have been no reprimands yet.

The nurses enter to set the trays down before leaving. Everyone has a pill on his tray today. They glance at Kyungsoo, who picks the pill up absentmindedly. It’s shaped like the ones they were prescribed when they left. He figured long ago that they were long-term repression drugs. They didn’t turn his eyes blue either. Demonstrating, he opens his mouth to eat it and lifts his tongue, sticking the pill underneath.

Then he shovels food in his mouth. The pill falls into his palm when he ducks his head and he buries it into the pocket of his pants.

“Where’s Minseok hyung?” Junmyeon asks.

Baekhyun looks directly at Kyungsoo, whose head refuses to lift. “He’s not dead.” This gets a small reaction. “From the bandages, he’s got broken bones. Can’t say how many.”

This starts the apologies. Baekhyun can tell that Kyungsoo can’t stop thinking about Minseok, so he gets up to fall into Minseok’s usual halfway-through-dinner spot. Tentatively, he rests an arm around Kyungsoo’s shoulders. It actually surprises him that Kyungsoo doesn’t pull away.

“It’s fine.”

“No. It’s not,” Kyungsoo whispers.

Baekhyun jumps a little when Kyungsoo buries his head into his shoulder. Carefully, Baekhyun adjusts the blanket around him.

Sehun observes them carefully before Yixing says, “Sometimes I feel as if Kyungsoo _knows._ ” Sehun waits for further explanation and Yixing doesn’t disappoint. His articulation has improved a lot and he doesn’t have to guess what he means. “There just seems to be things that he holds back. As if he knows more than he shares with us, but doesn’t want to get caught.”

Sehun looks over at Kyungsoo and Baekhyun again. Baekhyun is chattering with Jongdae and Jongin about the lightning Jongdae is capable of while Kyungsoo rests his head and says nothing.

 

Half an hour later, the doors open. Sehun’s nurse stands in the door way and she beckons him over. He pushes himself up, curious as to what will happen during this evaluation. Kyungsoo and Minseok rarely spoke about their time with Dr. Yi and he can’t even remember ever going to see her. Yixing claims that all he remembers about his visits with her is that she asks a lot of weird questions and then psychoanalyzes the answers given.

Trailing behind Nurse Thirty-Two, he tries to memorize the hallways they pass through. Maybe it’s the monotony of the walls or the medication he’s on, but he can’t seem to focus. He peeks inside every door to find what he’s looking for. Eventually, he catches a glimpse of Minseok’s bandaged body in his bed. A shiver runs through him, and he isn’t sure if it’s from the lightning strike or seeing Minseok.

Nurse Thirty-Two never speaks much. She’s a quieter nurse, only ever speaking to wake him up or calm him down. She’s got longer hair than the other nurses, which she tends to wear in a braid. He can’t say that she’s very caring, but she hasn’t done anything to mentally or physically abuse him either.

They pause in front of a door for a moment and then she holds it open for him.

“Up,” is all she says.

He leads the way up the stairs and can already feel the change in temperature as they go. The main floor is a breath of fresh air from the atmosphere below. The allure of outside is strong and he can’t stop wishing that they would let them outside to at the very least breathe the valley air.

Down the hallway, he feels a sense of déjà vu. The hallway seems familiar and when Nurse Thirty-Two motions for him to enter one of the offices, he feels as if he’s being reminded of a time before. The woman on the other side of the desk is familiar to him and after being here for so long, he knows that he’s met her before. His medication has blocked her out.

“Please, sit.”

Sehun sits in the comfy chair across her desk and glances around the room. When he takes in the view out of the window behind her, he can make out the shadows of mountains.

“Number 94.”

“Dr. Yi.”

Her eyes go over him and he takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm his shaking hands. The electric jolt from Jongdae was a little too much for his body to handle. According to the other nurses, from the snippets of conversation he’d caught while he was in and out of sleep, they were surprised he hadn’t had a heart attack.

“How are you doing?”

Sehun shrugs. He wiggles in the seat to find a comfy position. “Fine.”

“Number 94, I want the truth.”

Sehun has spent more time with Kyungsoo than some of the other boys and he had warned Sehun not to trust anyone.

“Don’t even really trust me,” Kyungsoo had said that time. “Be so very wary, Sehun-ah.”

So even though he wants to believe he can tell Dr. Yi the truth, he distinctly remembers the boys mentioning her watching their group testing. He isn’t sure when the feeling of being helped had disappeared, but he knew now that he was being observed.

“You were watching us.”

If this surprises Dr. Yi, she doesn’t let on. “Did that affect your performance, Number 94?”

“No. I can’t even remember you.”

“So why does it matter to you if I was there?”

“You sit here, picking at our brains, pretending to be nice to us, but then you idly watch when we’re pitted against each other.” The next thought comes to him as he says it. Even as the words leave his mouth, it seems so obvious. “You’re in on it with them, only working us to whatever ends they have intended for us.

Dr. Yi stands and Sehun hears the door lock behind him. She returns to the seat in front of him and her head ducks as if she’s taking notes. “Number 94, _Sehun_ , be careful what you say in here.”

Sehun blinks at her in surprise. The entire time he’s been in the Facility, no one has used his name except for the boys.

“There are things you shouldn’t say you have figured out, even if you aren’t sure if you’ve really figured anything out.” She straightens up and says, “One, two, one two. Working again?” This confuses Sehun more.

“Right, back to what we’d been discussing. You may not recall in our brief meeting last time, that I asked you if you thought your power was useful.”

“Okay.”

“Since you’ve had time to get used to it and use it, has your opinion changed on the matter? Do you feel as if your power is useful?”

“Useful? No. I still don’t think it’s useful. If past me said it was useful, he was lying. The power is useless here.”

“You’ve found no uses for it,” she states. “Not even after your group testing.”

“I can conjure up winds strong enough to lift a man. I can create tornados that will hurt a human person. I’ve managed to destroy the makeshift forests in testing and sometimes my voice will travel with a breeze.”

“Those seem like useful techniques.”

“Useful for what? What can I do with it? I don’t know what you guys want with a guy who uses his powers as a security blanket, but that’s its main purpose. Everything else is hit or miss.”

“If you had more time to learn to control it, Number 94, do you think you would be able to control it and use it to your advantage in combat?”

Dr. Yi is reading from a list in front of her, he’s sure of it. These questions are too precise to be part of a psychological evaluation.

But he humours whoever is _really_ asking the question. “Maybe with more time.”

She lifts her head after scribbling his pathetic answers. “Thank you.” She stands and leads him to the door to unlock it. Nurse Thirty-Two is standing on the other side when she pulls it open and Sehun watches the nurse eye Dr. Yi.

“Number 94,” she says without looking at him. As he follows her back down to the catacombs, he can see the tenseness in her shoulders that hadn’t been there before. In the hallways down below, he passes Baekhyun on his way up. Sehun reaches a hand out and Baekhyun catches it, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

Nurse Ninety-Eight takes him up the stairs and then leaves him at the door. She trusts him to find his way. He’s been a few times. Not quite as often as Kyungsoo or Minseok, but enough to remember where to go.

He isn’t sure why he expects Dr. Yi’s office to be different every time he goes, but he’s always surprised when he finds it’s the exact same as before. The view out the window is darker than last time; they’ve probably come into winter. His focus settles on Dr. Yi, who looks unsettled. Something Sehun said might’ve rattled her. If he remembers this woman correctly, then he knows it takes a lot to make her uncomfortable. Considering she could sit there and watch them hurt each other, she can’t be that good of a person anyway.

“How are you feeling tonight, Number 4?”

“My neck hurts.”

“How was that test this morning?”

“How _was it_?”

Dr. Yi nods her head. “Yes, how did you find it? How did you feel?”

“Feel? I feel scared. We lost.”

“Scared.”

Baekhyun stares at her. He has no intention to repeat himself. When the strongest person he’s met in here sobbed silent tears on his shoulder, a worry was already building in the pit of his stomach. The dream that he’d had of Minseok, Junmyeon and Jongin has also added to the worry, because he’s sure it’s a memory not a dream. However, with all the medication he’s been on for God-knows-how-long, he isn’t sure how long ago he needs to place the memory.

“Did you find it difficult?”

“We had a plan going in. It didn’t go well.”

“What was your plan?”

Baekhyun shakes his head.

Dr. Yi moves on. “How do you feel about your power?”

“You mean the fact that I can turn the lights on and off?” he scoffs. He’s had plenty of time to think about his power. It’s ridiculous to him. The only thing he can even do with his power is control visibility.

“You don’t think it’s advantageous?”

“If it was so advantageous, then wouldn’t we have won?”

“If you had all played on the same team,” she says in a low voice, “it would be different, don’t you think?”

Baekhyun blinks at this proposition. Maybe if they were on the same team. “But we weren’t.”

“I saw you using your power to communicate with the other patients on your team. What did you say to them?”

“I can’t do anything more than light the way,” he says simply. He isn’t sure why he lies, but he’s sure that Kyungsoo would tell him to do that.

A scrutinizing look passes between them. She tilts her head, trying to gauge what he knows. Sehun must have said something he shouldn’t have and that’s why she isn’t just taking his word for it.

 

* * *

 

Kyungsoo has shown more awareness than other test subjects. Dr. Yi has started to wonder if Baekhyun is the same.

She’s watched the feed. In their rooms and at the dinner table, there are other conversations occurring. The nurses and doctors don’t seem to notice it when they watch the feed, deeming it unimportant. However, the body language gives them away. Mundane conversations, or when they seemingly weren’t speaking at all, the way they moved was the same as when they were talking. Without audio, the visual clues are necessary to give them away.

“What do you think about the testing?” she asks.

“I think that…”

She lifts an eyebrow in his direction. The floors the boys occupy don’t have microphones, but they splurge on these nicer floors. One particular reason is probably so the new doctor doesn’t compromise anyone.

 _Careful with what you say, Baek_.

Baekhyun seems to understand her cue, as his brow furrows. “That it was difficult to look each other in the eye and do what we had to do.”

“Could you do it against other people?”

“Other people?” The question catches him off guard. “Am I…?”

“As a hypothetical,” she clarifies.

“Hypothetical,” he repeats. He shrugs. “Maybe?”

“If your life depended on it.”

He hesitates. “Yes…”

Dr. Yi notes this down: _willing to use against others in dire situations_.

“You may go, Number 4.”

She watches him leave and can hear Nurse Ninety-Eight ask him if he’s okay. When he replies yes, Dr. Yi smiles slightly. Burying her face in her hands, she relives the group testing. She thinks about the fear, the exchanges between them. Their strategic manoeuvres definitely require some refinement, but they had the idea. They knew what to do to survive.

“Dr. Yi?” Jongin’s voice pulls her back to her job.

“Yes, Number 88. Sit.” He slides down into the seat and she can’t help but notice the ashy mark still on the side of his face. Why have they not gotten rid of it?

Jongin touches the mark. “It won’t come off,” he explains, catching her stare. “My insides feel a little weird, but I’m alright.”

It has been noted that Jongin appears to be tired more consistently. During his daily tests, his nurse notes that he appears to get energy from zipping around the testing room. Any time in between, he tends to sleep a lot of the day away. Jongdae, Junmyeon and Yixing have been asking for reading material just to pass the time. Jongin has made no request of the kind.

“Do you feel any animosity towards Jongdae? Does it make you angry?”

“Angry?” Jongin ponders this. “No. I feel no anger towards him. He did what he had to do.”

“He could have killed you,” she points out.

“But he wouldn’t.”

“How do you know that?”

It takes Jongin even longer to answer this question. She wonders as to what’s going on in his head, but doesn’t pry. His answer comes in three words: “I trust him.”

It’s a finalizing statement, so she moves on. “How do you feel about your power now, Number 88?” She had asked him this question previously. He said it was freeing, that he could go wherever he wanted in a split second. It was powerful.

“I feel it could be harmful. It’s not just for travel.” There is an underlying understanding between them that he believes it can be an effective fighting tool, though neither of them says it. “I don’t want it now,” he admits instead.

“You’re not scared, Number 88?”

“Of what, Dr. Yi?”

“Of the people you share a room with. Of what they could do to you.”

“They won’t do anything if you guys are always watching.” A wry smile crosses Jongin’s features. On his beautiful face, the smile can be considered adorable.

“You are excused, Number 88.”

“I am scared, Dr. Yi,” he says as he gets to his feet. “That you guys can just watch us do what we had to do today.”

She nods her head as dismissal, knowing full well that she will be picked apart for the answers the boys are giving tonight. She jots down, before the next subject can enter, _Up Number 88’s dose_.


	17. Day 13, 8:45

**Day 13, 8:45**

She sits in her office, waiting for the only test subject of the day. She was made aware of Minseok’s injuries, but is still caught off guard when Nurse Eighty-Seven wheels him into the room.

“Please call me when you are finished with Number 99,” the nurse says. She backs out of the room, pulling the door closed as she leaves.

For a moment, Dr. Yi is at a loss for words. All the other boys have various injuries. Kyungsoo and Yixing spent their entire time shivering in their seats, but this is different. “My god, Number 99, are you all right?”

Minseok winces, passing it off as a smile. “Yes, Dr. Yi. But please, if we can hurry this along.”

“How are you feeling? Mentally,” she adds.

“Mentally, exhausted,” he says.

“Your memory?”

Minseok lifts an eyebrow at the question. She knows she’s never been so direct before. “Fine.”

“Really.”

“Mostly.”

“I see.” She’s had to lower Chanyeol and Sehun’s doses significantly as they’re forgetting too much, barely able to collect together the previous day. Strikingly different are Kyungsoo and Minseok who seem entirely coherent. As she recommends a dose increase for Minseok, _again_ , a pattern suddenly reveals itself to her. She files the question away for a bit later in the interview.

“Any anger towards your fellow teammates? You had a fighting chance.”

Minseok’s immediate reaction is to go on the defensive. “They did great. We were outnumbered and unprepared.”

“You think that given more time, you could have won?”

“I think that with less time to get to know each other and more time to prepare, yes, we could have won.”

“So you believe that the attachments you made with the other team affected how you competed.”

“The entire idea of pitting us against each other at all was sick and ridiculous.”

“Number 99,” she warns.

“I have broken ribs, almost all of them shattered; and yet, I’m still expected to go to testing later.”

“Number 99.”

“And my roommates can barely look at me without pity or apology, because they believe it’s their fault we lost.”

“ _Number 99_.”

“So no, maybe we wouldn’t have won. I care too much about all of them to hurt them more than I did.”

Dr. Yi takes a steadying breath before continuing. Minseok is riled and it’s not good for him in the Facility if he admits too much. “A few last questions, Number 99.” He doesn’t move. “How much do you weigh?”

“Is this not something you know already? It should be in my file.”

“Are you heavier than Sehun and Chanyeol?”

“I have no idea. I’m stronger, more muscle. I guess.”

“And you know this how?”

“It tends to get boring down there, you see. We sometimes have arm wrestling competitions,” he says simply.

A riled up Minseok has a very loose tongue. While he may be reprimanded for what he said, his punishment shouldn’t be too severe.

From the physicals, it _is_ clear that Kyungsoo and Minseok have the most muscle. A smile appears on her face and she nods at Minseok as she stands to open the door for him. “Thank you, Number 99.”

 

**Day 13, 9:30**

The boys are given the morning off. They have physicals to make sure there is no lasting damage and then convene in the dinner room. They sit together and chatter aimlessly. Kyungsoo looks to the door when Minseok enters. He breathes a sigh of relief at seeing him.

Nurse Eighty-Seven wheels him to the end of Kyungsoo’s row. When she leaves, Kyungsoo slides down to join him.

“Hyung.”

“It’s fine, Kyungsoo.” Minseok winces as he shifts. “I’m fine.”

“I’m so sorry.” Kyungsoo bows his head, almost level with Minseok’s lap. “I didn’t realize that—”

“Soo, this isn’t your fault. I don’t blame you. You did what you had to.” He gives Kyungsoo a once over, noting the blankets and gloves. “And from what I can see, I did a bit of damage on you and Yixing too.”

Formalities out of the way, Kyungsoo returns to non-moving lips. “How was your evaluation?”

“She asked me some weird questions.”

“Weird how?” Kyungsoo can’t recall any ‘weird’ questions. She didn’t stray far from the testing and asked questions about how he was feeling.

“She asked me about my weight.”

“Weight?”

“Yeah. I told her that I have more muscle.” He scrunches his nose. “I may have lost my temper in there slightly. Got a bit snippy with her.”

“Muscle? Why would that matter?”

Minseok shrugs. “I don’t know. Seemed significant to her.”

Before the two of them can speculate further, Baekhyun sidles up to them, leaving his conversation with Jongdae and Chanyeol about the science phenomenon that Jongdae had read about. He leans on his elbow to look past Kyungsoo.

“Hyung, how are you doing?”

Minseok is about to shrug, but realizes that doing so will probably rearrange his ribs. “I think I’m okay. Seriously, Baek, you can stop worrying now.”

Baekhyun frowns, but doesn’t say anything more. He glances at the guards, but keeps his lips as motionless as possible as he says, “Kyungsoo, I need to talk to you about something.”

The red-headed man lifts an eyebrow in question. Baekhyun has never had any secrets to hide, likely because he can’t remember them. Until now it seems.

“I’ve been having… dreams.”

“We all do,” Kyungsoo answers.

“They feel like memories.”

“The maze thing? Sehun talks about them all the time,” Kyungsoo answers. He glances at Minseok, who doesn’t seem anymore clued in than he is.

Baekhyun shakes his head. “ _No_. They’re like… it feels like… like something that happened after… I don’t know, something.” He realizes how insane he sounds and how little sense he makes even in to the standards of the Facility, but Kyungsoo appears to be patient.

This encourages Baekhyun to continue. He sounds his words out carefully. “It starts with Junmyeon hyung. He’s lying in a bed. In a coma, I think. I’ll turn around and see Minseokie hyung.” He looks Minseok in the eye. “You’re injured, but it’s your right hand. Like you’ve frozen it or something went wrong. Then a black split will appear in the hallway that separates the two rooms and Jongin will appear. He’ll look right at me and I wake up.”

Kyungsoo racks his brain for this memory, but nothing of the sort comes to mind.

“Baek… that’s from four years ago,” Minseok whispers.

His two younger friends turn to him to wait for an explanation.

Minseok shrugs. “That repression thing is really messing with my head,” he tells Kyungsoo. “I can’t remember it all that well.” Regardless, he tries to pull together what he can. As he shares, the other conversations die down. No one turns to look, because they are more than aware of the cameras.

“We were just learning how to use our powers,” Minseok begins. “And they’d put Junmyeon in a room, had him try to fill it with him inside of it, but not get wet.”

Kyungsoo’s brow furrows at the prospect. It sounds impossible.

“I don’t think they knew what Junmyeon’s limitations were, so they pushed. It was early days, so he didn’t know how to use the powers himself. But we were all excited.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, he could fill the room easy enough, but it was trying to fill it and maintain space for himself that was difficult. He could do it for a while, if I’m remembering it right, but the water displacement became too much. It fell in on him one time. The pressure knocked him out and before they could drain the whole room to get to him, he’d been unconscious for a while.”

Minseok meets Junmyeon’s eye across the table. “He should’ve died that day, but he didn’t.”

He goes on to explain the injury Baekhyun had seen on his hand. “I’m right handed, so they had me practice doing it out of my right hand. At one point, I couldn’t get the ice out all the way. It stopped in my palm. I almost lost my hand.”

“And Jongin?” Kyungsoo asks. He hopes the others can’t hear the trembling in his voice.

“Jongin was scared back then. Didn’t want to get stuck in the space between two places. He tended to leave the rip open longer, wider. He’s better at it now.”

“They’ve been doing this to us for four years? I knew it was long, but I literally have no recollection whatsoever,” Baekhyun hisses. “So how come you and Kyungsoo can remember it so well?”

A spill of Chinese down the table catches their attention. Sehun is quick to translate. “Yixing hyung also wants to know why you haven’t shared all of this with everyone.”

“Guys, we really can’t discuss this here,” Kyungsoo warns.

“When are we going to get to talk about it?” Jongdae demands. “They next time they bring us in here and we’re all high on medication?”

Chanyeol nudges his side. “Calm down. Kyungsoo probably has good reasons for not telling us anything.”

“How many times?” Jongin asks quietly. They glance at him, but he’s staring directly at Kyungsoo. Minseok can see the fear in the boy’s eyes, the trust that is in them. “How many times have we been in here?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Over four years? More than ten times I think?” He’d stopped counting ages ago.

“Is it always like this?” Jongin presses.

Shuffling around the room draws their attention away from the conversation for a minute. They glance back and notice that the guards have closed in. Chaerin comes over and grabs Baekhyun by the scruff of the neck. He cries out, only having just taken the neck brace off. Everyone stands.

“Careful with what you’re saying,” she breathes. “They might not be able to hear us, but they can most definitely see you guys are acting weird now.”

“They _can’t_ hear us?” Baekhyun asks.

“Let go of him,” Kyungsoo states, the blanket around his shoulders falling to the floor.

Chaerin’s hand releases Baekhyun’s collar. Kyungsoo goes around to check that his neck is more or less okay.

“How do we know you aren’t just ratting on us?” Baekhyun demands as Kyungsoo’s fingers go over his skin. He winces, but otherwise, Kyungsoo deems him all right.

Before Chaerin can answer him, the doors open. Nurse One enters and says, “Your testings will start early today.”

As Kyungsoo begins to move away, he feels Baekhyun’s hand go into his pocket. The two boys lock eyes, but Baekhyun follows his nurse before Kyungsoo can discern anything from his expression. In his pocket, he suddenly feels a handful of pills.

 

* * *

 

There aren’t a lot of things he can control in the Facility, but Baekhyun has managed to stop ingesting the daily breakfast pill. He tucks them away out of sight. He’s also trying to figure out how to get the IV drip to stop, but the best thing he’s come up with so far is just to unhook the IV. Nurse Ninety-Eight is much more lenient with him, but she’s not stupid. She’ll notice if the IV isn’t working correctly and will fix it immediately.

He recognizes some things, but nothing useful enough to get them all out of here. And he isn’t leaving them behind, because fuck, Kyungsoo looks as if he won’t last another round in here.

Baekhyun snaps out of his reverie when he hears his nurse speak. “Did she hurt you?” He glances at the map on her tablet, and still recognizes nothing.

“No, she didn’t.”

“I’ll check on it before we start.”

Baekhyun, for not the first time since being here, wonders why a girl so nice would join in something like this.


	18. Day 17, 1:04

**Day 17, 1:04**

Jongin can hear rustling on the bed across from him. Sehun has been thrashing around in his bed every night. He wakes up so groggy that Jongin isn’t even sure if he even slept the night before. He’s noticed that Kyungsoo and Minseok are also speaking less. They don’t talk to each other as much and there’s a dazed in their eyes, as if they aren’t sure where they are or what’s going on. Jongin feels better and he was sure that Sehun did too, but the sleepless nights seem to be catching up with him.

He slowly sits up to look over at Sehun’s bed. He crosses over, being careful not to wake any of the others as he drags his IV across the room. Gently, he sits on the edge of the bed and shakes Sehun awake. A gust of wind nearly knocks him over when Sehun tries to bat him off, but Jongin manages to catch his arm to stop him.

“Sehun-ah, Sehun-ah,” he whispers. “It’s just me.”

Sehun’s eyes glow blue as he opens them. Jongin’s eyes reflect off his skin. Sehun’s chiselled features are defined by the shadows. “J-Jongin?”

Jongin nods his head. “You keep moving around in your sleep.”

Sehun rubs his eyes. “Did I wake you?”

“I couldn’t sleep anyway,” Jongin lies. He’s a great sleeper. “Are you okay? I feel as if you haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

Sehun runs a hand through his hair and scoots over to make more room for Jongin. “I’ve been having these weird dreams.”

“Me too,” Jongin admits.

Sehun’s glowing eyes watch him, waiting for elaboration.

“It starts off in here, I think. And then it moves to us in that maze and we’re all separated. I can teleport around, but I can’t teleport _out_.” They’d discussed the maze briefly. However, a week ago, further discussion on the topic made Sehun antsier than usual.

Sehun nods his head now. “My power is useless and more so in the maze.”

“Your power isn’t useless.”

“Says the person who can teleport.”

Jongin snorts. They sit in silence for a while. The heart monitors don’t make any noise either, so all that fills the room are the sounds of the others’ breathing. It almost feels like a drone that reminds him he’s alive, but may drive him to insanity. Quietly, he says, “How often do you have the nightmares?”

“Couldn’t tell you,” Sehun says. “But since the group testing, it’s been happening more and more.” Sehun shakes his head in a vain attempt to stop thinking about Minseok. The man keeps appearing in his head, poking at something he doesn’t understand. Sehun believes it’s from seeing the seemingly invincible Minseok being taken out, but as the days wear on, he’s not so sure.

“You ever think we could escape?” Jongin whispers. He tilts his head back to lean against the wall.

“From what Kyungsoo hyung said, they’ve let us out before. Why wouldn’t they do it this time?”

Jongin studies Kyungsoo’s bed. The rise and fall of the lump on the bed lets him know that the smaller, red headed man was hopefully not thinking about all the horrors that he’d had to burden on his own the last four years. There is so much that Kyungsoo still isn’t telling them. He’s forgiven the man for not sharing, but now he has a worry growing in the pit of his stomach that Kyungsoo is _forgetting_. And it seems that Kyungsoo is realizing it too.

Fear is a new emotion for Kyungsoo. Most of the time they’ve passed in the Facility, Kyungsoo has been the epitome of calm and collected. While he tries hard to remain so, the last few days, with all the rigorous testing and training and increased visits with Dr. Yi, Kyungsoo seems off set.

“Something happened after that psych evaluation,” Jongin says to Sehun now. “Kyungsoo hyung and Minseokie hyung are afraid of something. I think something’s different.”

“What do you mean?”

“I overhear him and Minseok hyung talking sometimes,” Jongin admits. He knows that those conversations are meant to be as private as possible. From what he’s gotten, though, he knows that Minseok wants to break them all out of here. However, Kyungsoo insists time and time again that it’s impossible. There are too many variables, too many guards around. “It doesn’t sound like they’re letting us out after this one.”

“How do you know?” Sehun demands. His breath slowly begins picking up. If Sehun’s heart rate accelerates too much, it will notify the nurses and send them running. All they can likely glean from the video feed is that he and Sehun are just unable to sleep. That’ll change if Sehun has a panic attack.

“Calm down first, Sehun-ah,” he pleads.

A warm breeze floats over Jongin. The air around him cools, but on his left side where Sehun sits, it feels like a summer day. It stretches to encompass him as well.

“This is useless?” Jongin asks. He extends his arm out. His fingertips go cold, but when he pulls his arm back towards him, they warm right back up.

“Security blanket, exactly what I need when I’m thrown into battle situations,” Sehun retorts.

Jongin watches as their heart monitors fall into rhythm with each other. Then he continues. “The hyungs think it’s different now. There’s more physical testing. And Kyungsoo hyung said he doesn’t remember a psychologist the last time we were here.”

“They’re planning something,” Sehun states simply with a shrug.

“Yeah, but _what_?”

Sehun glances over at Jongin. “You won’t think I’m crazy, right?”

“Look at where we are and what we can do. I think we’re past the realm of crazy.”

Sehun nods and faces straight ahead before speaking. “I said something to Dr. Yi in my first evaluation after the testing.” Jongin waits him out, understanding the muddle inside of his friend’s head. “Something about how… how I shouldn’t say things even if I’ve figured them out.”

“Well what did you say?”

“If I could tell you, I would,” Sehun grumbles.

“Okay,” Jongin hums. “If she said that you shouldn’t admit things even if you have them figured out… you must know something. You just… can’t remember what it is.”

“What could I have possibly said? I can hardly remember _having_ the conversation.” His head knocks back into the wall in frustration.

The lights in the hallway flicker for a moment and Jongin slides off Sehun’s bed. “Saying something you shouldn’t means that they’re doing something they shouldn’t be and you know what it is.”

Jongin climbs under the sheets just as the hallway light turns on. A nurse, probably on her rounds, pokes her head in. She goes around the room, double-checking that everyone is still attached to their monitors. The nurse stops at Sehun’s bed for a beat longer than everyone else, but deems everything normal and leaves.

“We’re not getting out of here,” Sehun’s resigned voice murmurs across the room.

“We’ll figure something out.”

 

**Day 17, 22:45**

Dr. Yi sits in her office, finishing up the last of her paperwork for the evening. In the middle of a yawn, the door swings open.

“Ma’am,” she says as she scrambles to her feet.

“Dr. Yi, I have entrusted my subjects to your care and now I hear that they’re acting out.”

“Acting out, ma’am?” she repeats.

A tablet is set down in front of her. The recording from four days ago is being replayed on the screen. The boys had been getting too secretive and the nurses told Chaerin and the guards to separate them. Chaerin had been a bit aggressive in her approach, but it had been effective.

“Ma’am, they weren’t doing anything.”

“They are plotting something, Dr. Yi.” Her boss zooms into Kyungsoo, Minseok, and Baekhyun who are sitting at the edge of the table. Their heads are bowed together, lips hardly moving. To someone who wasn’t looking hard enough, it doesn’t seem as if they’re talking. It seems as if they’re just bowing their heads in defeat at their situation. However, Dr. Yi has watched enough of their interactions to understand the difference. She did stop writing it in her reports, but it seems she’d done it enough times that others have caught on.

“I have recommended their doses be changed, Ma’am. They can’t remember enough to know what we’re trying to do.” Dr. Yi straightens up. It’s always intimidating when the boss comes in, but this is the first time she’s had to speak with her face-to-face since boss lady hired her. She had confidentiality forms to sign, things she had been asked if she was ready to do. One of them was testing on human subjects.

Her eyes narrow. “Dr. Yi, if these boys are plotting an escape, I want to know about it. Our data is essentially useless if we have no proof of it.”

“When do you plan on giving them over, Ma’am?” Dr. Yi asks tentatively. She isn’t sure that her boss will answer such a question, but something must have aligned in the heavens because she does.

“In a few days time. The buyers are planning to come to their next group testing. I have asked Nurse Eighty-Seven if she believes Number 99 will have recovered completely in four days time. She says that they have been using Number 10 to slowly heal Number 99’s ribs.”

The boss waves her hand dismissively as she begins to leave. “They say that it is too painful for Number 99 to attempt to heal them all at once.” Her dark eyes skim over Dr. Yi. “If you hear anything about them escaping, Doctor, please notify me.”

There’s suspicion in her voice, as Dr. Yi is the only one who regularly checks the video feed. However, as she glances down at the repeated surveillance clip of the boys interacting, she honestly can’t say whether the boys are planning to break out.

“Of course, Ma’am.”

“Go home, Dr. Yi. It is not good for your health to work too late.”

Dr. Yi bows her head. “Good night, Ma’am.”

The boss exits her office, with a swish of her dress. Two men clad in black suits follow her down the hall. Dr. Yi slumps into her seat and watches Baekhyun on the screen. Chaerin grabs Baekhyun’s scruff and the video stops. Dr. Yi wonders what led up to it, as there is no further context. With a sigh, she gets up and takes a left down the hallway. She passes one other door before reaching the security room.

She takes a seat in the security seat. Camera feed across the walls shows various rooms: her office, the boys’ rooms, the dining room and different hallways on the boys’ floors. She rolls her chair towards the computer where she can choose the video feed. There’s one file she has no access to and she’s tried all kinds of ways to access it, but to no avail. She was reprimanded on the third attempt and stopped trying just so she could keep her job.

But she knows which file she wants. She opens the video file from four days ago and fast-forwards to the boys’ dinnertime. She scrolls the video feed until the moment Chaerin begins moving and then backtracks the video slightly. She puts the video on one of the bigger screens and stares hard at the images.

Her focus returns to Baekhyun, who she assumes starts the stories because he’s the one Chaerin reaches for. She can’t understand everything he says. The boys have gotten very good at speaking without lip movement. The few things she can make out seem as if he’s recounting something to them.

_Junmyeon._

_Coma._

_Minseok._

_Jongin._

She has no idea what the string of names and coma has to do with anything; but from the reaction on Minseok’s face, it’s important. She zooms the video out and watches the other boys’ conversations stop. No one moves; no one looks.

And then suddenly, they’re all looking at Minseok. She has to squint to discern whether they’re speaking or breathing, but whatever they’re saying, the words ‘escape’ never leave their mouths.

She can’t ask the boys what’s going on. She can’t ask Chaerin either, because the girl’s already been punished for letting too much occur in the dining room.

A long sigh leaves her lips. She glances over her shoulder towards the door despite knowing full well that no one else is in the building besides the nurses downstairs. With no one walking through the door, she zooms in on Chanyeol’s face. He faces the camera she’s focused on. She misses his face, misses his hugs. If busting them out means they get to live their own lives, she hopes that Chanyeol can forgive her enough to accept her back into his.

 

**Day 17, 23:12**

Baekhyun glances at the door. The nurse peeks in, but doesn’t enter. When she disappears, the lights in the hallway dim. With a sign, he rolls onto his left side. Across the way is Minseok.

“Hyung,” he whispers.

He receives no response.

“ _Hyung_.”

Still nothing.

“Hyung!” he says sharply, knowing full well that Minseok isn’t sleeping.

“Shut the hell up, Baek,” Minseok hisses.

“I need to ask you something.”

“ _What_?”

Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae have noticed that Minseok has been snippier lately. They aren’t sure what’s changed, but it worries them. It’s out of Minseok’s character to be sharp with them.

“I’m giving you five seconds to ask me something not stupid. Go.”

“Have you been taking your medication?”

Minseok turns his head. His blue eyes glow across the room. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know you aren’t, hyung. But… do you feel different?”

Minseok’s voice softens at this. “What do you mean?”

“You seem… angry.”

It takes a few moments for Minseok to reply. For a while, Baekhyun believes he won’t. “They’ve upped my IV dose, I think.”

“I thought you said that Kyungsoo said that it’s a short term dose.”

“Soo doesn’t know everything,” Minseok says. “It’s a short term dose, but I have to reach far to remember my life in Berlin. It’s stressing me out.”

“Hyung, I feel like we need to start coming up with an escape plan.”

“I know there’s no audio in this room,” Minseok grumbles, “but maybe don’t use those words.”

“What do you want me to say instead? Chocolate cake?”

“Please, something that makes us sound less crazy.”

Baekhyun is quiet for a while. “Hyung, do you want to stay here forever?”

Minseok doesn’t answer right away. “No. But Kyungsoo said it’s impossible.”

“Well that was before.”

“What’s different now?”

“We have you!” Baekhyun exclaims. “And we are all aware of the dangers now. If I have gotten anything from Soo, it’s that he doesn’t want to burden any of us. Maybe the only reason he opened up this time is because he’s scared.”

“He wants to protect you,” Minseok mutters.

Baekhyun isn’t sure he heard him right, so he ploughs right on. “I’ve stopped taking the morning pill. I know you have too.”

“Well, mostly because my nurse has to force feed me it. I catch it in my throat and then spit it back out.”

“Exactly! See? Hyung, we’re thinking the same things; we just need to work together to get ourselves out of here. The pill always made my head feel weird afterwards.”

“As if it was hollow,” Minseok mumbles.

“Yeah.”

“You two are crazy,” Jongdae hisses from across the room. Another set of blue reflects off the ceiling. “How do you do it?”

Baekhyun explains how it works, and Jongdae looks horrified. “You swallow it halfway? That’s choking, isn’t it?”

“ _Vive la différence._ ”

“Excuse me?”

Baekhyun snorts. “ _Potato, potato._ ”

Minseok rolls his eyes. “That’s not exactly the same. You could die.”

“Either die in here from exhaustion or die in here by choking. Either way, I die,” Baekhyun sighs.

The three boys lie in silence for a long while. Jongdae’s eyes open again, the blue on the ceiling giving him away.

“You said memories, Baek, right?” Jongdae’s groggy voice whispers.

“Yeah. No more nightmares. I’m pretty sure they’re real.”

“The maze,” Minseok mutters. This gets all of their attention; even Chanyeol opens his eyes to hear it. “You guys shouldn’t think about that maze.” Even to this day, the maze is one of the worst things Minseok has had to experience. “It drains you, that maze. Because there is no way out. It doesn’t matter where you go. And the walls close in on you. When you reach an exit, there’s something blocking you. You can see out of it; there’s no solid wall to stop you, but there’s an invisible wall. No matter how hard you bang on it, attack it with all you have, you can’t get out.”

“What was the maze for, hyung?” Jongdae whispers.

“I don’t know,” Minseok answers. “It was a month or two… maybe three… into us being here the first time. They woke us up that day and told us that they were starting testing, something to test how well we could control our powers from the get go. Then the medication started. A few weeks after that, they split us up.” Minseok’s voice is barely above a breath as he says, “I never saw you guys again.”

“Then we’re busting out of here,” Baekhyun whispers. “I have a… half plan.”

“Half plan,” Jongdae grumbles under his breath as he rolls onto his side. “You’re gonna get us killed before we can die in this hell hole.”

“We’re superhuman,” Baekhyun insists. “We can bust out of here. We just need good timing.”

“Yeah, let’s hope we _have_ time,” Chanyeol adds.

“You guys are not going to get out of here with that depressing attitude,” Baekhyun mutters as his eyes close. Minseok doesn’t comment, because what if Chanyeol’s right? What if they’re running out of time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kyungsoo is going to the army. I was not expecting him to go so soooooon! And Minseok just left. :( Definitely no EXO for a while, least I had hope when they were all around. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. :) I'm finding a good groove with work this summer and actually have time for sleep for once~


	19. Day 18, 17:28

**Day 18, 17:28**

Dr. Yi heads into her office after a doctors consultation meeting. In the lobby, a nurse leads a few of the mechanical technicians to the field they’ll be using for the group testing. They’re planning to sell the research off in two days time, which means group testing will be tomorrow. If all goes well, the boys will be shipped off at the end of the week.

“Status update on Number 4,” Dr. Yi overhears one of the nurses say as she passes.

“Vitals all good. Brain activity normal.”

“That doesn’t explain his slower reaction times during his testing today. And he still refuses to demonstrate what he had done during the last group testing.”

Dr. Yi watches the two nurses disappear down the hallway, presumably going back down to the catacombs. She’s only wandered those halls once during her time at the Facility. And she knows that she’d get lost down there if she ever went alone.

As she sits down at her desk, Dr. Yi turns to face out the window towards the gardens. In her lap, a small walkie talkie is clutched in her hands. She taps into the frequency of the day.

“Chaerin,” she says in a hushed tone. The microphone in the room is turned off when the boys aren’t around. She’s triple checked.

“ _Eunni_.” Chaerin’s voice crackles to life. “ _Can’t talk long. Boys coming in half an hour._ ”

“We have two days, Chaerin.”

“ _Two? Eunni! You could’ve given me more warning._ ”

“Everything’s being finalized now. The buyers are coming in tomorrow to watch their group testing, and then everything gets wiped and cleared, and the boys get shipped off.”

“ _Fuck. What do we do? They’re not ready._ ”

“Make them ready, Chaerin. You’ve been sitting on the sideline for a lot of it. Nudge them along.”

“ _Eunni, I’m here to protect and intervene if these boys were to reveal too much. I wasn’t supposed to help them escape._ ”

“You’re going to have to now. It’s taking them too long.”

“ _Eunni_ ,” Chaerin whines.

Dr. Yi knows that Chaerin is young. The only reason she met the girl was because she had shown up one time when Jongin had come to Arizona almost three years ago. Chanyeol had invited Jongin into their home to stay. Chaerin, no matter how hard she had tried to stay hidden away, was obvious in her hiding choices. Eventually, Chanyeol had invited her to stay in the house as well. That was when she and Jongin had hit it off. She hadn’t seen Chaerin in years.

Until Dr. Yi happened to catch sight of her when they first brought Jongin into the Facility.

“They’re never going to see the light of day again, Chaerin, when they’re sold tomorrow.”

This shuts Chaerin right up. The thought of never seeing the boys again must be sending the same shivers down her spine that Dr. Yi gets every time she thinks about it.

“ _What do I tell them?_ ”

Dr. Yi lists out all the things she can think of that will be helpful to the boys. How the rounds work, timing, the security cameras, the navigation of the floors and the tablets they require for it.

“ _When should I give it to them?_ ”

“Some time between now and tomorrow. They’ll need the help. When you pass it on, you leave, Chaerin. Don’t come back. Don’t look for Jongin. If in two months I don’t call you, assume the worst. Lie low. Probably don’t come back.”

Chaerin is quiet on her end. She doesn’t say anything for a long time. “ _Eunni?_ ”

“Yes.”

“ _I’m scared._ ”

“I know. But these boys are going to need all the help they can get.”

“ _Eunni, what if I get caught? What if_ you _get caught?_ ”

“We vowed to admit nothing. We made a promise that if we were going to get these boys out of here in one piece, we would say nothing. Do it for the friendships you’ve built with them when they could remember. If you can think of no other reason, think of the fact that they’re being weaponized and they don’t even know why.”

Chaerin takes a deep breath before agreeing. “ _I’m going to flush this talkie now._ ”

“I have to get rid of mine too. I’m trusting you to get it to them before their testing, Chaerin. Good luck.”

Dr. Yi looks up when the door opens. She tucks the walkie talkie casually into the compartment she has hidden her desk.

“Ma’am.”

“Walk with me, Dr. Yi.”

Slowly, Nayeon gets to her feet. She misses the glint in her boss’s eyes as she passes her out into the hallway.

 

**Day 18, 18:00**

Jongin slips into his usual seat at the table, across from Chaerin. He rests his cheek in the palm of his right hand, studying her. He’s found himself doing that a lot, just watching her. She doesn’t ever move and he isn’t sure how his staring really makes her feel. However, she’s never punished him for it, so he hasn’t bothered to ask.

As soon as Baekhyun enters the room, he occupies the spot next to Kyungsoo. Sehun, who follows right after, registers the change and goes to sit with Yixing. The two begin murmuring right away.

Jongin tilts his head when Chanyeol takes a seat next to him. “Hyung.”

“How are you?” Chanyeol asks casually.

His brow furrows slightly at the oddly formal question. “Fine, hyung…”

“Good, good.”

Chanyeol glances at him and then ducks his head out of view of the camera. Jongin knows the stance already. He waits for Chanyeol to share.

“Baekhyun says he has a plan to get us out of here.”

“Out?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen to let him know that he is risking things by saying that out loud. Jongin immediately shuts his mouth.

“It’s a half plan right now. We’re still not sure on all the details, but maybe in a few days we’ll try.”

“Hyung, what happens if we fail?”

“Failure isn’t an option.”

It’s something Chanyeol would say, but Jongin can’t think like that. “No consider it for once, hyung. What happens if we fail?”

Chanyeol hesitates, not wanting to consider the other outcomes. He’ll lose his nerve. The plan is Baekhyun’s anyway and he was _very_ vague on what the details were. After bringing it up last night, they had briefly discussed it over breakfast. Chanyeol still isn’t sure what the actual plan is.

“I don’t know.”

“Come up with something,” Jongin says, even to his own ears he sounds desperate. “Will they kill us? Torture us? Make us forget everything _again_?”

Chanyeol shrugs. He’s been having more dreams of that stupid maze every night since the last group testing. Now that he knows that it wasn’t a dream and it did in fact happen, he wonders why he can hear a voice calling out to him. When he runs through the maze, he hears a female voice calling him and it makes his heart ache.

“Hyung?” Jongin asks.

A shake of his head gets him back to the present. He can’t think about the mystery female voice that he swears he’s heard before. “Sorry. Look, don’t worry about the worst-case scenario. Think that they probably need us. How many genetically mutated sick men with super powers are roaming the Earth right now?”

Jongin cracks a smile. “Please never refer to us like that again.”

“Do you feel as if we’ve been doing a lot of sitting around lately?” Junmyeon asks across the table. He’s facing Jongdae. They’d been discussing how their testings had gone. Junmyeon had said that it had hardly lasted half an hour while Jongdae’s had lasted a little bit less than that.

“It’s almost as if they’re done with us,” Junmyeon says.

Jongdae, Baekhyun, Minseok, and Chanyeol all exchange looks.

Junmyeon and his roommates notice the exchange. “If you guys know something, it would be nice if you shared.”

“Hyung, we don’t know any more than you,” Jongdae insists. “We just…”

Baekhyun quips, “We’re in the stages of planning.”

They all know what they’re planning. They’ve all discussed the potential of escape before, never using the word or anything analogous. Even though Kyungsoo has shot down the idea hundreds of times, he’s been less responsive. The boys have noticed he’s less interactive as well.

Baekhyun tries to keep him talking, taking over for Minseok who seems to be suffering similar symptoms. Jongdae has been in charge of chatting with Minseok. He and Junmyeon can go for hours about the things they remember about their separate countries. Junmyeon mentions this one man who called him often and must be worried that he can’t find him.

Junmyeon glances at Minseok now then at Kyungsoo before asking, “What’s the plan?”

“Details are still hazy,” Baekhyun answers.

“Meaning we have no real plan other than we need to get the hell out of here and the best time to do it is late at night,” Jongdae sighs. He looks at Baekhyun. “Let’s be real. We’re risking our skin here.”

“We’re risking our skin by sitting here and waiting for them to extort us,” Baekhyun hisses.

The boys exchange looks.

“Come on. We’re mutations.” Baekhyun rolls his eyes. “Have you guys never watched superhero movies? The superheroes are either extorted or save the day. Look at the position we’re in and tell me which one we have a better chance of having.”

Kyungsoo studies Baekhyun’s profile; the latter’s cheeks going red, as he gets agitated. He squeezes Baekhyun’s wrist. “Baek, calm down. We’re not doubting you or anything. I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again. Breaking out of here is impossible.”

“Why?” Sehun asks. He’s surprised to have all eyes on him, but continues on. “I just… you always _say_ it’s impossible. I know you’ve tried it, but what even happened?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head.

“There are eight of us here to help you, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae presses. “You’re not doing it alone this time.”

Kyungsoo eyes them all, his head hanging in defeat. They wouldn’t let up. “I didn’t do it alone that time.”

“Who helped you?”

Kyungsoo tilts his head in Baekhyun’s direction. “Baek.”

Baekhyun’s brow furrows. “You hate me, though. Why would you ask me to help?”

The other boys struggle to hide their amused faces. While Kyungsoo’s face flushes, he continues on. “Whatever. You were the one who snuck out with me.”

“We got caught.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Obviously.”

Jongin’s interest is piqued. “What did they do to you, hyung?”

Kyungsoo winces. That’s a memory he doesn’t like to think about. It’s definitely one of the worst ones he’s experienced in the Facility… after the maze. “They didn’t kill us.” It’s Kyungsoo’s pathetic attempt at humour, but he doesn’t pause for laughter. “They deprived us of food. They pumped enough drugs into Baekhyun to repress any memory of the incident or the reasons why you were hungry.”

“And you?” Baekhyun prods.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “They were never able to get my dose right.”

Suddenly, Minseok hisses, “Muscle mass!”

“What?” Yixing asks Sehun.

Sehun translates it as best as he can and Yixing raises his eyebrows. He quickly speaks to Sehun. There are wild gestures and pointing at Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. The boys watch as Sehun absorbs all of the information before relaying it. Yixing nods the entire time as Sehun explains.

“Hyung says that the drugs must work based on muscle mass. According to him, it’s easy to tell that Kyungsoo hyung and Minseokie hyung are the strongest out of all of us, dense in muscle mass.” He glances at Yixing out of the corner of his eye for reassurance that he’s communicating the idea correctly.

“He says that the muscle mass leads to a bit of a faster metabolism, so they’re digesting the drugs faster than we are. So they should be experiencing the memory lapse, but the drug passes through so quickly, it doesn’t have any lasting effects. The reason that Chanyeol hyung felt so out of it the first week was because they were basing their dosage on height. Yixing hyung says that they must have assumed because Chanyeol hyung was the tallest and probably the heaviest, that he would need the strongest dose.

“Hey! I’m not heavy,” Chanyeol protests.

Sehun holds his hands up defensively. Yixing decides to step in here. “All I mean… _meant_ was that… they are very unsure of how their drugs work. For us…” He points to everyone excluding Chanyeol, Sehun, Minseok and Kyungsoo. “We are average height, so they can ball park the right dose. Anyone too tall or too short makes them unsure.”

They sit there in stunned silence for a moment. None of them have really spoken to Yixing one-on-one, assuming he struggled with the language. Instead, Yixing just had nothing of importance to say. He would rather listen and absorb opinions and discuss them with Sehun than have a say in every conversation.

“That explains why I remembered, but you didn’t,” Kyungsoo mutters to Baekhyun.

“We’re basically the same height. And I’m pretty sure I’m heavier than you,” Baekhyun points out.

Kyungsoo smirks. “I’m still shorter, but I’m also stronger than you.”

And Baekhyun isn’t about to argue with him there. The cheeky glint in Kyungsoo’s eyes is a little unsettling.

“Okay, so how did we do it?”

Junmyeon glances at the clock. “They’re going to take us away soon.”

Kyungsoo runs through how it went. They’d decided at 22:00, with an hour until the next nurse round, they’d slipped out of their rooms.

“They were also pretty lax on security that time, too. Until then, no one had tried to escape before,” Kyungsoo explains.

They’d met up halfway down the hallway, just like they always did before going to their one other point of reference: the dining room. They had no idea where to go from there, so they had just started walking in the opposite direction of all the rooms they recognized. They checked every door and one happened to reveal a set of stairs. The problem was they only went down. At the time they’d never been to the lobby, so they had no idea how to get there. The longer they ran, the more little sounds would make them jump.

That is, until an alarm had started blaring an hour later. They only just got more lost after that. They knew that they should’ve been going up, but the stairs only ever pointed down. The hallways became their own private hell as they wound through them without any markings to distinguish one hall from another.

“We thought that maybe the fact that some floors were lighter than others meant that we were going up.” Kyungsoo clenches his fist under the table to somehow keep his emotions in check. “We just could never find a door that didn’t lead into some random room or down again.”

“You were being tracked,” Minseok says simply. The horrified looks he gets warrant an explanation. “On your left forearm, there will be a small incision that doesn’t even look like anything noticeable. If you have thinner skin, you might feel a little lump there. They put tracking devices in us when they let us out the first time.”

This tidbit seems to settle the idea for the boys. No one has time to come up with a solid plan of how to actually bust out of the Facility, but one point has definitely been made.

“That explains the tablets then,” Chanyeol grumbles. “They need it to navigate the floors.”

“But if the nurses don’t know how to get around, how are we supposed to?” Sehun sighs.

Just before they’re escorted back to their rooms, Chaerin does a lap around the table. They watch her circle until she settles at Jongin’s side and leans down to eye him. He pulls back, bumping into Kyungsoo. As abruptly as she arrived, she settles back into her position just as the nurses enter to escort them back.

The boys glance at each other, wondering what they did wrong. Jongin peeks over his shoulder at Chaerin. She’s not looking at him. Her eyes, as they always are, stare straight ahead.


	20. Day 18, 23:41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "We're in the endgame now."
> 
> This is the start of my favourite part of this story.   
> Is that vain of me to say? Regardless, part three is the most fun. :) Enjoy~

**PART THREE: TWELVE FLOORS, ONE WAY OUT**

**Day 18, 23:41**

_EXO PLANET._

_Bright lights._

_Flashy dining rooms._

_Test rooms._

Baekhyun bolts awake in his bed. He can hear his heart beating wildly and he takes deep breaths, trying to settle it before he analyzes his last dream.

Once it slows, enough to steady his breathing, he thinks.

The title EXO planet comes to mind. He can picture it over the sign of a building. There is a vague recollection of the need to dress up. And did he have to perform for random people in suits?

He pulls the memory to the forefront of his mind and tries to force them to stay there. The white walls seem familiar.

 

“This might hurt.” The nurse’s face doesn’t look like Nurse Ninety-Eight. This nurse looks older and she is definitely pushing something into his intravenous.

“What’s—” Baekhyun can feel the ghost pains burn through his body. Straps hold him down as his body spasms through the pain. Something lights at his fingertips and he stares down at it in horror.

 

“What the hell, Baek?” Minseok grumbles.

Baekhyun quickly notices the light at his fingertips. He scrambles up to sitting, not realizing he’d fallen asleep again, and quickly sends the light back to wherever he’d gotten it from. Minseok’s had overly sensitive eyes since they’ve increased his memory repressing drugs.

“Hyung, we have to get out of here now.”

“What?” Minseok groans, flipping to face away from him.

“We aren’t born this way. We are genetically _engineered_ to be this way.”

“We’re mutated, not engineered. Meaning we were born like this and just happened to show symptoms.”

“But we’re not. They only ever tell us we’re _sick_. They say it has something to do with DNA. Do you think it’s possible that because of the trauma of them _genetically modifying_ us that you and Kyungsoo forgot?”

“Slow down,” Minseok sighs as he turns to face Baekhyun, realizing the guy isn’t going to let up any time soon.

“There is no time to _slow down_ ,” Baekhyun hisses. His chattering has woken both Jongdae and Chanyeol, who groggily stare at him trying to catch up to the conversation. “We need to get out of here. They are testing on us. They are using us. Who knows what they even want us for? Four years ago when we were first… fucking _created_ , we were brought to a fancy dinner and made to show off our abilities.”

With glowing eyes, Minseok’s eye roll is very obvious. “What? To who?”

“To people who would fund us most likely,” Baekhyun whispers.

“If people were funding this, we belong to whoever bought us. We’re experiments,” Jongdae snorts. “I’m so glad we did this.” The other three glowing eyes swing his way at his choice of words. “Well, how exactly are you going to create genetically modified humans? Assuming Baekhyun’s theory is correct. You have to have humans who are willing to be genetically modified. Whatever reason we’re here, it’s our fault too.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m about to sit here and never remember anything and be sold to the highest bidder,” Baekhyun snaps.

Jongdae shakes his head. “What I’m saying is we don’t have enough information on this place to plan an effective escape.”

They turn to Minseok, the only voice of reason. And Minseok has no idea what the hell to do.

The room suddenly warms and Baekhyun about dives right under his covers when a voice begins speaking.

“ _Don’t know how effective this is._ ”

“Soo?” Baekhyun asks. He looks around.

“ _We need a plan to get out of here. Now._ ”

Chanyeol looks to Baekhyun. “Did you and Kyungsoo talk about escaping tonight?”

Baekhyun doesn’t get a chance to answer, because Kyungsoo’s voice floats through the room again. “ _If you’re out of bed, get back in it. Pretend you’re asleep. Eyes closed. No movement._ ”

Baekhyun climbs back into bed and covers himself with the sheet. The shines of blue disappear as they all close their eyes.

“ _At dinner, that girl gave Jongin a piece of paper with a ton of information. We’re supposed to be sold in two days and they have group testing planned for tomorrow. Assuming all of this_ is _true, we need a way out._ ”

“We’d be more prepared tomorrow,” Jongdae whispers. “We’ve only just learned and realized all sorts of information in the past fifteen minutes.”

Minseok’s voice carries across the room. “Baek, can you get a message to them? I know you can’t see.”

“The last time I did this we were in the battle situation. I can’t do large sentences with light.”

“If we’re going to do this tonight, we need to be in sync,” Chanyeol reminds them.

“Fuck,” Baekhyun mutters. He quiets his mind, shutting out Kyungsoo’s voice. He pulls light from wherever he can get it and formulates about half a sentence. He wonders how far it will go, because manoeuvring it so its cohesive is a bit more difficult when he can’t see where it’s going.

“ _What do you mean?_ ” It’s Junmyeon this time.

With the light already in their room, he tries to rearrange the letters to respond. He hopes it at the very least makes sense.

“ _I’m assuming this just means you agree with us,_ ” Junmyeon answers.

Kyungsoo’s deeper voice fills the room again, warming them. They assume Sehun’s found a way to move voices across warm air. “ _Baek, I know Morse Code. Send me the message that way._ ”

“This guy assumes I know Morse Code,” Baekhyun laughs, losing his control of the light.

“I know Morse Code,” Jongdae says.

This cuts Baekhyun’s laugh quickly. “You do?”

“I had a lot of time out there, apparently. I know a few languages. They’re—”

“Dae, really not the time,” Chanyeol whispers. His tone is a lot lighter than the one Minseok or Baekhyun wanted to use.

“Right, what do you wanna tell them?” Baekhyun asks.

“Tell them we need to get a hold of a tablet,” Minseok says.

Jongdae hums, thinking for a moment.

“Keep it dim, Baek. Anyone can read Morse,” Minseok reminds him.

Jongdae begins reciting the message in Morse code. “Dash, dot. Wait. Dot. Wait. Dot. Wait. Dash. Dot. Dot. Wait a little longer.”

It takes a little bit of time to convey the message, but Kyungsoo replies. “ _We have no way to get a hold of one._ ”

“We do,” Minseok says.

“We do?”

“I mean, it’s not the nicest way to acquire one and it would get us in a hell of a lot of trouble. But since we’re planning to get out of here, and never come back, we’ll need to commit a few crimes.”

Chanyeol catches on first. “You’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”

“Ask Junmyeon when he thinks the next nurse is coming,” Minseok says.

It takes a few minutes, but Junmyeon’s voice comes to them on another warm breeze. “ _About five minutes._ ”

“Tell them to pretend to sleep. We’re getting that tablet.” There’s confidence in Minseok’s voice that the others haven’t heard in a few days.

“We are?” Chanyeol questions.

“In the most inconspicuous way possible. But I need you guys to get me out of here.” They hear the soft clink of the handcuffs against the metal bar of the bed.

“How? They need keys.”

“And none of us can pick a lock?” Jongdae chuckles after translating the message into Morse.

Chanyeol’s brow furrows even though he knows no one can see it. “What? You’re goody-two-shoes, Jongdae, Number 21, and you can pick locks?”

“Like I said,” Jongdae says as he starts to disentangle himself from the sheets and the IV, “I had a lot of time.”

“Baek, dim the room as much as you can without making it seem suspicious,” Minseok instructs.

“ _Three minutes to go. Then an hour until they do another round. Less if they’re watching the cameras._ ”

“I’ll share that next part when we’re all together,” Minseok says. Jongdae slides out of the bed as the lights in the hallway dim to almost black.

“The only thing is, I don’t have anything to pick this with,” Jongdae says as he inspects the keyholes.

“What do you need?” Minseok asks. “We’ve got two minutes.”

“Pins or—”

“Aren’t there medical tools in here?” Chanyeol asks.

“Aren’t those kept under lock and key too?” Baekhyun asks. “Guys, when she starts making the round, I have to lift the lights.”

“I get it. I have to work faster.” Jongdae stands and studies the room. The only things in here are their beds and heart monitors. Then his eyes fall on the end of Chanyeol’s bed where a sign hangs with his number on it. He tugs it off and finds two metal pieces hanging off of it to hold it up. “Hyung, can you freeze this?”

“ _One minute,_ ” Junmyeon whispers into the room.

Jongdae brings the sign closer to Minseok’s right hand. He guides Minseok’s fingers to the part he needs frozen and then holds the bottom of the sign. It’s probably best not to get hypothermia before trying to break out of the Facility. Frozen, the metal becomes brittle and it takes little force to crack it. Once they’re detached, Jongdae deems them appropriate to pick the lock.

“I have to bring the lights up,” Baekhyun warns in a whisper.

Jongdae tries not to let the fact that they’re running on a clock freak him out. Luckily, his hands are steady regardless of his erratic heartbeat.

“Dae…” Chanyeol whispers. He sat up to watch Jongdae, but with the nurse approaching, he’s starting to lie down. He can see her shadow along the wall heading towards them.

In a panic, Jongdae manages to get Minseok’s left hand free just as the door swings open. Minseok lifts his head and shoots out haphazardly. He freezes the shackles to get himself out as Chanyeol bends over her.

“You killed her,” Chanyeol whispers, checking for a pulse.

Minseok looks as if he’s in shock, but Baekhyun is already digging around in her pockets for something. They drag the nurse further into the room, her body warm. Jongdae releases his grip from under her arm.

“This one had a fever. Maybe she was thinking she _wanted_ to die because of a massive headache and you just… granted her wish,” Jongdae mutters as Baekhyun pulls the tablet out of her pants pocket.

Minseok winces. “Probably _not_ the best time to saying that,” he grumbles as he pulls the lifeless body underneath a window so that she’ll be out of view if another nurse made a round.

They start down the hallway towards the others’ room. Kyungsoo has his head poked out the door and then hurries to meet them halfway, the others following suit.

“So if floors move, then will this show us how they’re moving?” Chanyeol asks when they’re all huddled together.

“You know, it’s probably not a good idea for us to be standing like this,” Junmyeon comments as he looks around. They’re blocking the entire hallway and he can count three cameras pointed in various directions. “Baek?”

Baekhyun’s eyes swing his way.

“You can block out cameras, can’t you?”

“I can?”

Minseok nods his head, understanding Junmyeon’s train of thought. “Something dim so it’s not too noticeable and place them over the cameras. That’s brilliant.”

Kyungsoo bumps his hip into Baekhyun’s. “Told you your power wasn’t useless.”

Baekhyun lets a small smile grow on his face at the compliment. He’d mentioned how he felt about his power in passing and is surprised that Kyungsoo bothered to remember. Three little balls of light separate from lights overhead. This dims the hallway. They watch as the orbs hover in front of the lens.

“That should buy us a bit of time.”

Yixing has the tablet in his hands and has managed to open it. A hexagon separates and shows them different floors. Sehun watches over his shoulder as he taps one. It blows up to show them the layout of the floor. When he taps outside the floor, it brings them back to the hexagonal column. The seventh has a small red dot on it.

“We’re so far down,” Sehun comments.

“Twelve floors too,” Yixing mutters.

Jongin doesn’t like the sound of twelve floors to manoeuvre. “And we’re…?”

“On the seventh.”

Jongdae’s eyes widen in surprise. “Seven out of twelve?”

“Who even knows if it’s actually twelve floors,” Kyungsoo points out. “The floors move.”

“So are these the floors shuffled or are these the floors how they’re supposed to be?” Sehun asks as he taps the seventh floor.

“Can you find a way out on there?” Junmyeon enquires. He and Minseok are standing on either side of the group just in case. “Or a staircase. If we can find a staircase, I’m sure we can see how the floors move.”

“I cannot read it,” Yixing says as passes the tablet to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo’s eyes reflect off the screen and it hurts a little bit. Once he’s used to the burn in his eyes, he finds in the corner, opposite from them, a staircase listed.

“We’re going left,” Kyungsoo announces.

In a huddle, with Minseok at the rear and Kyungsoo and Junmyeon leading the way, the boys move down the hallway. They’re all on high alert, having never left the room after lights out. Baekhyun’s orbs of light float after them; only moving when he believes they’re out of frame.

“Where are the nurses?” Jongin asks. His nerves are making him so jittery that he’s clamped his hands underneath his armpits. He’s had to deal with people stalking him before, but this is different.

“I don’t know. Maybe they only come down when they need to check on us,” Minseok says. He’s walking closely behind Jongin.

“What did they think we were going to do?” Sehun asks.

“Well, probably this,” Minseok chuckles darkly. He glances over his shoulders. The lights are motion sensitive as the halls go dark once they pass through them.

Kyungsoo suddenly holds a hand up to stop them. “This is it.”

“I’m taking Kyungsoo,” Junmyeon says. “Min hyung, stay with them.”

Minseok nods his head. Junmyeon pulls the door open.

“I should come too,” Baekhyun says suddenly.

Everyone stares at him, but a reassuring smile grows on Kyungsoo’s face. “We’ll be right back. You need to keep the cameras off them anyway.”

Baekhyun watches as Kyungsoo and Junmyeon disappear into the stairwell.

“Baek, they’ll be fine,” Chanyeol insists. A shiver suddenly goes up his spine as he says it, but he ignores it, brushing it off as too much adrenaline.

Kyungsoo and Junmyeon have stepped into a stairwell that only goes down.

“If they all only go down… won’t we… be going… down?” Junmyeon asks as they proceed.

Kyungsoo seems to agree with this logic. “But this building seems to defy all physics and Earth rules. If we keep going down, maybe we’re really going up.”

“Is this really how this place works?”

Kyungsoo looks down at the tablet in his hands. “I have no idea. They’ve genetically modified humans so that we can exhibit powers, things we probably shouldn’t be able to do.”

“Because of lack of science or…?”

“Well if we were lacking the science, they’ve rectified that problem. I don’t know. I think there’s a limitation on human beings and somehow they surpassed the limit.”

Junmyeon is quiet for a while, mulling over this information as they reach another door. “That’s worrying. What do we do if we aren’t playing by the same rules?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I don’t know.” They peer around the corner and find another staircase, going up.

“Did we just not come from a floor above?” Junmyeon asks, annoyance in his voice. “Where does that go?”

“I have no idea.” They step out of the door and Kyungsoo glances down at the map to orient himself. The blip on the screen has moved down to the 11th floor.

Junmyeon throws his head back in frustration. “We don’t know how to use or read this.”

Kyungsoo turns back around and they’re about to take the _other_ staircase when the tablet reads, _Floor Reset._ Being barricaded on one or maybe two floors, they had no idea that the floors were moving. Now, standing in the stairwell, the floor shift is very apparent. Junmyeon grabs for Kyungsoo’s collar and yanks him down as the staircases swing overhead to rearrange themselves.

On the screen, the floors flip back and forth. Floor 1, 6, 7 and 12 remain in the same spot, but every other floor moves around. Their blip has now shifted to the second floor.

“Second floor, we can get out of here,” Kyungsoo breathes when the shift ends.

“Sure, we can get out of here, but what about all of them still on the 7th floor?” Junmyeon demands.

Kyungsoo looks to pull the door open, but Junmyeon stops his hand. He motions towards the staircases. One points down now, and the other still points up. “If we’re on the second floor and this is going up… we can go up.”

“What happened to getting the others?” Kyungsoo asks as he follows Junmyeon up the stairs.

“We’ll get there,” Junmyeon reassures him. “But we need to know that we can actually _get_ out. We just watched all the floors shift.”

“They’re still on that 7th floor waiting for us.”

“Yeah, but we could be wrong, walk down the stairs, and wind up somewhere else.” Junmyeon takes a deep breath and then pushes the door open. The lobby is dark, the area clear. They can see right towards the glass double doors, can even see the snow falling outside.

“Oh my god,” Junmyeon breathes.

Excitement bubbles in Kyungsoo’s stomach. “We have to go back for them. We _know_ there’s a way out.”

They head down the stairs and bypass the door, instead going down the other staircase. It brings them to the 11th floor again. “How much time do you think—?”

Then the alarms start blaring. Junmyeon sighs as he looks at Kyungsoo.

“Think that answers your question.”

Footsteps from above force them through the door. On the eleventh floor, Junmyeon demands for another door. The goal is to find their friends now.

“Another door, Soo, another door.” The hallways light up as they run through them. Without Baekhyun’s lights to block the cameras, they’re completely exposed. The two of them hurry along until a few nurses they’ve never seen before start walking towards them.

“Plan, Soo, plan,” Junmyeon hisses as they stumble backwards, losing momentum.

“It’s a little hard to do all these things at once.” Kyungsoo is looking around, clearly still trying to figure out a plan.

“This is more pressing.”

The three nurses walk steadily towards them wordlessly, their visors down.

“We’re going to have to hit them,” Kyungsoo says. He tucks the tablet into the pocket of his pants.

“I know,” Junmyeon sighs. “I really don’t want to do this.”

“They aren’t stopping, hyung,” Kyungsoo points out.

With shaky hands, Junmyeon pushes a wave forward. Kyungsoo’s about to fly through with the distraction, emulating their trial run in the group testing, but his brow furrows when he watches the wave pass over the three nurses who collapse almost immediately.

“Is that electricity?” Kyungsoo asks.

Junmyeon’s wave disappears. Kyungsoo doesn’t understand how it soaks away, but doesn’t ask. They hurry forward against their better judgment.

“Electricity?” Junmyeon repeats. They kneel over the nurses, assuming that their tablets have short-circuited.

They scramble back as the heads of all three nurses explode. Junmyeon puts out a little fire that appears at the base of one of their necks. “They’re robotic.”

“They can’t all be,” Kyungsoo insists. “They wouldn’t need tablets if they were.”

“Why have robotic nurses at all?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I don’t know, but now’s not the time to think about it. We need to find everyone and get out of here.”

“Door,” Junmyeon repeats.


	21. Day 19, 00:47

**Day 19, 00:47**

“We can’t just stand around waiting here,” Minseok says after five minutes. “They should’ve been back by now.”

“We’re going after them then.” Baekhyun rolls his shoulders and then ploughs forward. Inside, the metal staircases point upwards. Chanyeol and Jongin manage to follow after him, but then the door slams shut. Jongin’s hand reaches for Chanyeol’s arm in panic.

“Hyung?”

“Jongin!” Sehun shouts through the door. “What’s going on?”

Before Jongin can answer him, Chanyeol forces his head down. Above them, the floors appear to be resetting themselves. When everything settles, they straighten up and the alarms begin blaring.

“We’re caught,” Chanyeol grumbles. Suddenly, the door is pushed open and Minseok leads the charge inside. They huddle together.

“We have only one option now. Down.” They hurry down the stairs to the first door. Around the corner, there’s another set of stairs to go down, but they stop for a second.

“Going down is probably not a good idea. We want to be going up,” Minseok reasons.

“Hyung, if we all bust out of that door, they’re going to catch all of us,” Baekhyun says.

“So what? We split up? Look at what happened the last time. The floors move. Who knows if they moved while Junmyeon and Kyungsoo went down to check?” Minseok exclaims.

“We stand a better chance of getting out if we split up,” Jongdae grumbles. The scrunched up look on his face shows his displeasure at the idea. “We can get out, get help.”

“Or get out and get pulverized,” Minseok argues.

“Hyung, this isn’t a debate. We’re running out of options. We need to go _now_ ,” Baekhyun states. “Take Yixing, Jongdae, and Sehun. We’ll probably lose communication when we step out of this door.”

They’re running out of time and there’s no way they’re going to be able to hide in this stairwell forever. Minseok, hating this plan, says, “If we get out, we head out and find somewhere to lie low. Stay for 24 hours and then if no one makes any contact, head out. Leave.”

“Hyung, the tracking chips…” Sehun whispers. His incision is red. Since finding out its existence, he’s been picking at it.

“I don’t know how we’re going to get those out.”

“They know this place. They have maps. We don’t. What do we do?” Jongin states.

Jongdae tips his head. “We could short circuit it.”

“We can do what now?” Chanyeol demands.

“Short circuit it.” Lightning crackles in his hand. “I can… zap you guys with enough voltage to render it useless.”

“How much is enough voltage?” Yixing asks.

Jongdae shrugs. “Well, they’re not big and some run on like 5 millivolts.” He seems to be speaking out loud, because no one understands what he’s saying. “Which isn’t a lot, but they’re probably using super high-tech microchips and the best method would be to cut them out, but we don’t have access to anything to do that now…” Jongdae’s eyes lift and he scans all of them. “I’m going to go high and say 400 volts.” Their confused expressions require he explain further. “Microchips have short-circuit tolerance, sort of. They can withstand and protect the information or whatever you need them for when they _do_ short-circuit. We need to short it so much that there’s no way it can be recovered until we can cut them out.”

The winning question comes from Jongin, as usual. “And is that enough to kill us?”

“It’s not the volts that kill you, it’s the current.” Jongdae’s hands are splayed open as he adjusts the lightning in his hands and dulls it down _immensely_.

“Doesn’t answer my question, though…” Jongin says hesitantly.

Jongdae eyes them all again. “How many times has lightning killed someone?” They squirm under his stare. “And we are genetically engineered. You survived my barrage,” he says to Sehun. “You can take 400 volts.”

Immediately, Sehun rolls up his sleeve and offers his arm out to Jongdae. “Okay, just do it. We don’t have a lot of time.”

Yixing stands right behind him, hands ready to heal should anything occur.

Minseok stands away from the group, listening to the stairs for footsteps. He shakes his head when he hears the zap and sizzle of lightning hitting skin. “Do Baek, Yeol, and Jongin, because we need to split up. We’re sitting ducks in here. You can do Yixing and yourself on the way.”

Jongdae nods his head and regenerates the voltage. His hands clamp around Baekhyun’s forearm. Baekhyun yelps and whistles at the two burning red hand prints on his skin. Yixing’s hands hover above the burn, soothing some of the pain.

“Warning would have been nice.”

“No time.” Jongdae does the same to Chanyeol and Jongin, who take it a bit better.

“24 hours when you escape. If no one comes, you leave,” Minseok reminds them.

They eye each other, because hell, this could be it. Realization of this fact seems to hit them, because Sehun throws his arms around Jongin in a hug. The force of it causes the two boys to stumble. Sehun practically squeezes the life out of him.

Jongin gives his cheek a pat. “Your power’s not useless and neither are you.”

Sehun nods. His jaw goes taut as he spins on his heel, leading Jongdae, Yixing and Minseok down the stairs before he can become a complete sap. Yixing reaches for his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

Jongdae glances at Minseok as they follow behind the other two. Minseok calls for them to wait so that he can go first through the door they reach.

“Hyung,” Jongdae whispers as they step out onto the dark floor, “where are we?”

Minseok shrugs. “I have no idea.”

“Are we just going to keep moving up and down through these stairwells?” Jongdae asks.

“I think we can’t stay in one for too long. There has to be other ones.”

“They know that’s where we’re going,” Jongdae points out. “They’ll be—”

Without hesitating, Minseok shoots out icicles at the first sign of movement in his peripheral.

“Hyung!” Sehun exclaims.

The nurses collapse and Sehun and Yixing hurry forward. Yixing is about to lay hands on them when the heads explode.

“What the hell?” Yixing demands. It’s a phrase he’s picked up from the others and he’s had no reason to use it until now.

Minseok shakes his head as he walks up. “They aren’t real.”

“What do you mean? You can’t honestly tell me that robots have been taking care of us for God knows how long,” Jongdae retorts.

“Maybe only the real nurses lived on our floor.” The woman he’d killed on accident earlier lingers in his mind.

“So what’s the point of having twelve floors if the living bodies are all on the seventh?” Jongdae asks now.

“So if we ever did something like this,” Minseok fires over Jongdae’s shoulder for the robot heading their way, “we would be stopped.”

“It’s not exactly working very well, is it?” Jongdae points out.

Minseok frowns as the alarm blares again and then all the power goes out. Emergency lights flicker on in red. “They’re watching us now. We can’t stay in one place for too long.”

“Hyung, they’re going to catch us in this group,” Sehun says softly.

“You and Xing go,” Minseok urges. “Go that way and find another staircase.”

Jongdae lifts an eyebrow in Minseok’s direction. “And where are _we_ going?”

“We’re going back up to our floor and we’re going to find another way out of here.”

“We’re in a literal labyrinth,” Jongdae whines as they split up again, he and Minseok doubling back. More nurses come down the hall, a few stepping out of different rooms. Minseok can’t hold them all back on his own and when Jongdae lets down a rain of lightning bolts, Minseok can’t help but feel proud.

“Labyrinth means there’s no way out, doesn’t it?”

“No, a labyrinth is just a nice word for a very hard maze.”

Minseok yanks the stairwell door open and books it up the stairs. “Isn’t there a story about a labyrinth?”

Minseok could hear the nerves in Jongdae’s voice, shaking his words. And he’s learned that when Jongdae is upset or nervous, talking and blabbering about things he understands helps calm him down. Or at least that’s what he got when he listened to the guy talk endlessly about things Minseok didn’t understand.

He holds a hand back to tell Jongdae to wait. He pokes his head out. The floors they’ve visited have looked the exact same. Maybe it’s because of the emergency lights, but this floor feels darker than the others.

Minseok motions for him to follow. Jongdae’s brow furrows. “This isn’t our floor.”

“We shouldn’t be on our floor,” Minseok states. “This should be the floor where the others went.” He glances back at Jongdae who’s chewing on his bottom lip. “But how do _you_ know?”

“You know that story you were asking about?”

“Sure.”

“I’m assuming you mean the one from Greek mythology. The one about Theseus and a minotaur.”

“Tell me what the story is and get to the point about how you know this isn’t our floor. Because if you can tell them apart, it would be helpful. Everything looks the same to me.”

Jongdae hurries behind Minseok, whose ears are straining for sound. “Theseus was trapped in a labyrinth with a minotaur because the king was giving sacrifices of 7 men and 7 women virgins to gain wealth and power.”

“Alright.”

“Theseus supposedly killed the Minotaur and managed to survive.”

Minseok rounds a corner and this hallway looks no different. He’s just going to have to try any of these doors. He peers through the window before moving on. “Okay, great. Where’s the Minotaur in this maze? I’m ready to kill anything to get out of here.”

Jongdae shakes his head, breathless from all the running. “No minotaur in our maze. But a labyrinth is supposed to distort your senses so you have an even more difficult time to get out.”

“Good news, Dae, good news,” Minseok hisses as he tries another door.

“Well, I don’t really have any. But the air is different on this floor, colder, like we’re lower down or something.”

Minseok pushes a door open and pokes his head inside. He sighs. He knows what floor this is now. “Well, even I could tell you that this isn’t our floor and that I know exactly which one we’re on.”

“Is this the field they brought us to last time?” Jongdae asks as they enter the dark field. It has mountains and different terrains. Minseok swears there’s a desert. It’s almost triple the size of the one they’d competed on during their last group testing.

“No. Remember? We’re supposed to be sold tomorrow or the day after that. We needed to show we weren’t wastes of time. This is where they were going to show us off.”

“A stage.”

“In a metaphorical, romanticized way, I guess so.”

“It’s a euphemism,” Jongdae murmurs. Minseok assumes that to keep himself sane.

“Come on, wallowing here isn’t going to get us out of this place.” Minseok gives Jongdae a light push in the back before they continue down the hallway.

 

**Day 19, 1:27**

“We’ve been walking for ages,” Jongin complains. “We’re so screwed.”

Baekhyun is this close to losing his mind. Luckily, Chanyeol is good at soothing people and is able to keep Jongin’s nerves at mostly at bay.

But Jongin isn’t wrong, which is what makes Baekhyun even crazier. They’ve been walking for what feels like forever. They’ve found multiple staircases, but have no idea what floor they’re on. The floors have changed at least twice more. They might not have moved at all.

Baekhyun is hoping that if Kyungsoo and Junmyeon got out that they didn’t try to come back for them. Because if his wandering has been anything to go on, it’s a hell of a lot harder to do this than any of them expected.

“I knew that the floors were going to move, but I didn’t think it would be this much,” Baekhyun says as they huddle down in the stairwell, getting caught in another floor switch. It seems to be happening much more frequently, which would make sense since they’re definitely being watched now.

Chanyeol shakes his head. His mind keeps running somewhere else. As they hurry up the stairs, Chanyeol stumbles forward. His hands press into the cool concrete of the stairs and he slowly lowers himself into a sitting position. He rests his head against the wall. Baekhyun squats down in front of him, leaving Jongin to watch for anyone coming.

“What’s wrong?”

Chanyeol can’t respond. His mind is flying through memories, as if trying to organize all the thoughts that have been repressed for so long. Baekhyun looks to Jongin, but his helplessness is reflected right back. Chanyeol slumps back into the wall.

“Chanyeol!”

 

As he enters a fancy building, he swings a flyer in his hand. At his side is Baekhyun. His hair is black, not the lighter brown that Chanyeol associates with the shorter man. Baekhyun smiles up at him, playful mischief dancing in his eyes. They walk right up to the receptionist. The lobby of the building is shiny and white, like it has just been pulled out of a home magazine.

“How can I help you?”

Chanyeol hesitates for only a fraction of a second as Baekhyun nudges him with his elbow, his eyebrows raised. Chanyeol sets the flyer down on the marble counter. “We were responding to this.”

The woman lifts her eyebrow before sliding it off the counter so she can read it. It had appeared on a bulletin in their university cafeteria. A woman who looked like Dr. Yi had dropped it in front of them, knowing they would get a kick out of it.

 

            _Ever wondered if superpowers were real?_

_Have you ever wanted to stand up to your enemies? Your bullies?_

_We’re looking for healthy young people._

_If interested, please come pay us a visit._

 

He and Chanyeol had laughed at the proposition.

“I dare you to go,” Chanyeol said.

“I’ll go if you go. Let’s see who the better superhero is,” Baekhyun joked.

“You guys are idiots if you’re actually considering this,” the Dr. Yi look alike said.

“Oh, shut up, Nayeon-ah. _Superpowers_ ,” Baekhyun enuinciated.

It brought them to this moment. The receptionist calls for someone. Rather than being told which floor to go to, minutes later, a woman in a beautiful dress walks out to greet them. She smiles.

Chanyeol glances back at Baekhyun. His smaller counterpart pushes him forward and they follow along behind her as she takes them up to the 22nd floor.

She begins to tell them about the proposition.

 

Chanyeol’s eyes widen and he sits up suddenly. Baekhyun has a hand raised as if he’s been smacking him awake.

“Thank god,” Baekhyun sighs.

“I remember why we’re here.”

“Yeah, we’re being sold. We already know that and we need to keep moving before we _get_ sold.”

“Hyung, we’ve been sitting here too long,” Jongin whispers.

Baekhyun helps Chanyeol to his feet. He still towers over Baekhyun now. Four years later and Baekhyun just stopped growing. Jongin and Baekhyun ask again and again if he’ll be okay to walk. Rather than trying to convince them, he stands and starts up the stairs. He pokes his head into the next floor, still with absolutely no idea where the hell they are.

“We went on a dare,” Chanyeol explains as they run through the halls. They can already hear footsteps behind them. Jongin continues trying to teleport around, but something is blocking him.

Baekhyun furrows his brow. “Hold up. We did what?”

“It was an ad. For… for like healthy people or something. Something about being superhuman. Someone gave it to us and we thought it was a total joke.”

Jongin stops them. “Hyung.”

Up ahead, four nurses walk towards them. Baekhyun whips around and sees three more stalking them.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god,” Jongin hums. His head turns both ways in panic. “What do we do?”

Baekhyun glances up at Chanyeol, who looks worried. “We do what they were testing us to do.”

“We’re going to eliminate them?” Chanyeol whispers. “You can’t be serious.”

“Give me another choice here, Yeol. I’ll gladly take it,” Baekhyun replies. “But all I can think about is if they catch us, we’re never leaving again.”

Jongin, not wanting to be stuck here forever, resigns himself to this fate. He squares up. “Blind them, hyung.”

Baekhyun is about to ask Jongin if he’s sure _he_ wants to be the one to kill them, but Jongin is already in a fighting stance. Just ahead of Jongin, he has three bright orbs float in front of the nurses’ faces. Over his shoulder, he can hear Chanyeol yelling as he burns the nurses alive. They are surprisingly silent.

“Hyung!” Jongin shouts.

Baekhyun is about ready to jump somebody, but he’s more horrified at the fact that Jongin has a head in his hand.

“They’re not real!”

“Watch yourself, Jonginie!” Baekhyun shouts. He rushes forward to tackle one of the nurses before she can inject Jongin with the needle in her hand. He closes his eyes and twists her neck, but there’s no crack like he assumed there would be. Instead, it’s the familiar sound of metal rubbing together.

Baekhyun is still cradling the nurse’s head, the third robot on the floor. “They aren’t real.” He now realizes what Jongin had said.

“Of course they’re not,” Chanyeol huffs when they join him. “They’d be stupid to send real people after us.”

“What happens if we kill all their robots?” Jongin asks. He tosses the head away from him after inspecting the wiring and gears.

“Kill all their robots.”

“Well, I’m assuming the others have run into them by now.” Jongin urges them along, because standing in the hallway with creepy dismembered robots is giving him the jitters. “Are we going to have to kill real people if we eliminate all the robots?”

“If we don’t get out of here, probably,” Chanyeol says.

Baekhyun shakes his head. He really hopes it doesn’t come to that.


	22. Day 19, 3:30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been trying to be consistent about posting either Saturday or Sunday, but I went on a road trip and was gone the last two weekends. But I'm back~ May post the next chapter tomorrow to make up for the other week I missed. :D

**Day 19, 3:30**

The boys have run all throughout the Facility, up and down stairs, completely losing track of where they are. The map that Junmyeon and Kyungsoo have is useless if they can’t find the boys to get them out. When they figured out the tracking device section, there were only two blips on the screen and it was them. They’d quickly gone into a room, found a scalpel and cut them out. They haven’t run into anyone real, so disabling the nurses has been easy, if not annoying.

Kyungsoo hurries down another set of stairs with Junmyeon on his heels. He rams a fist through the door, which he’s done to every staircase they’ve entered. He hopes the boys know what it means if they’ve run into them.

The floor they step out onto is dark. It’s darker than any of the other floors they’ve visited besides the one reserved for their group testings. Nurse Three has come over the intercom and asked them to surrender twice already. They’ve amped up the difficulty of the nurses, making them offensive rather than passive. Kyungsoo has almost been injected with whatever sedative they have more times than he would like to count.

Kyungsoo pulls the tablet out of his pocket and checks it.

“Hyung.”

“What now?” Junmyeon yawns.

“We’re on the twelfth floor.”

As they walk further, Junmyeon stumbles backwards. The crumbling walls, the overwhelming gloom. Junmyeon peers over his shoulder at the doorway, but finds it’s not there. A panic starts to bubble in his chest.

“Soo…”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo is walking forward, his legs shaking, his eyes fixated on the literal nightmare before him.

“What would you say if I told you the door wasn’t there anymore?”

“I would kill you if you were joking.”

“And if I wasn’t…?”

Kyungsoo glances over his shoulder, but the door he punched his hand through is still there. He scowls at Junmyeon. “Do you want to die today? That’s not funny.”

“What?” Junmyeon looks back and sees black crumbling wall. Just like the rest of this godforsaken maze. “It’s really not there, Soo.”

“It is and I can see it and I really hate that you think it’s funny to do that to me at a time like this.”

Just then, the door swings open and Baekhyun, Jongin, and Chanyeol step out. Baekhyun’s eyes widen when he sees Kyungsoo and he surges forward to hug him. Kyungsoo stumbles backwards from the force, and stares wide eyed at the back of Baekhyun’s head.

“We have been trying to find you for _hours_ ,” Baekhyun breathes. He pulls away and looks at Kyungsoo to make sure he’s all right. The blue has nearly faded from his eyes and Baekhyun’s doesn’t reflect quite so harshly off his skin, which seems to be turning a right shade of purple.

“I’m fine. We’re fine,” Junmyeon says as he scruffs up Jongin’s hair. “How did you find us?”

“The holes you were leaving in the doors. We figured Kyungsoo was the only one strong enough to punch through steel,” Chanyeol says, smirking at the still compromising position Baekhyun has Kyungsoo and him in.

Junmyeon glances at the door again. “See? It’s gone! Soo!”

Kyungsoo shakes his head in annoyance. “It’s there!”

“What is?” Baekhyun asks.

“The door you guys walked out of. It disappears when you close it,” Junmyeon insists.

“ _No_. I can _see_ it. I can see the gaping hole I put through it,” Kyungsoo sighs. He eyes Baekhyun, who jumps back when he realizes that his arms are still around Kyungsoo.

“Soo, I swear to God—”

“I don’t see it either,” Chanyeol interrupts, hoping to settle this odd disagreement.

Kyungsoo shakes his head and they follow him back to the door. He turns the doorknob. Suddenly there’s a gaping hole in the wall and they can see up the dark staircase. They stare at him. “What?”

“That wasn’t there before, hyung,” Jongin says.

“I told you this place is playing on different rules,” he says to Junmyeon. “Who knows? Maybe it’s magic now.”

“Why can’t we go back this way and try somewhere else?” Jongin asks. The dark crumbling walls straight out of his nightmares is uninviting.

“I know you don’t want to, but we can’t go back. Every single door on that floor had a hole in it; remember?” Baekhyun sighs. “And they haven’t gotten out.”

“We did get out,” Junmyeon states as they start back towards the maze. “We got to the lobby, but we weren’t about to just leave without you.”

Baekhyun is about to argue about how stupid that is, but Chanyeol cuts in. “Thank you. But now we’re here and we’re still missing—”

Jongdae and Minseok hurry down the stairs and nearly bowl Kyungsoo over in their rush out the door.

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Minseok breathes as he slams the door shut behind them.

“Why are you running?”

“We were trying to outrun some robots.”

They count heads.

“Yixing hyung and Sehunnie aren’t here,” Jongin announces.

“So what do we do?” Chanyeol asks. “Keep going?”

Kyungsoo pulls the tablet out of his pocket and brings up the map. Everyone crowds around as he taps the twelfth floor.

“There’s a center,” Jongdae says, pointing at the center of the screen.

“What are we going to find in there?” Jongin enquires.

“Assuming this _is_ like that Greek mythological story,” Jongdae begins, “then the exit or a trick out of here could be there.”

“So we’re going to go together,” Minseok states. “Should we wait for Yixing and Sehun?”

“Who knows if they’ll get here,” Kyungsoo decides. “We’re sitting ducks waiting.”

Jongin looks as if he’s going to protest. If he does, Kyungsoo might reconsider. However, Jongin closes his mouth, encouraging Kyungsoo to lead the way. Everyone is so focused on the maze that when Sehun and Yixing come speeding out of a wall, everyone’s powers come flying out in panic.

Sehun gets hit with the brunt of them and slams back into the door. Almost automatically, Yixing bends over to check on him. Minseok bites hard on his bottom lip before leading the way over.

Sehun’s eyes are closed, bits of him smoking, other parts damp. Minseok defrosts the ice. Chanyeol puts out the fire on his arm.

“God, did you guys kill him?” Jongin demands. He’s checking for a pulse, but can’t find one. He looks to Yixing. “You can heal him, right? They didn’t just kill him, did they?”

Yixing touches each spot on Sehun’s body. The rest of them jump when the door they’d come out of shakes.

“We were escaping,” Yixing says, his eyes never leaving Sehun’s body. “We are not capable of killing them all. I think Sehun underestimates his power still.”

Kyungsoo stands and tugs Minseok up. Junmyeon also joins them and gives the others a bit of time to move Sehun further away. Then he swings the door open. The amount of robots in the stairwell catches Kyungsoo off guard until one of them lunges and tries to stab him in the neck with the needle.

Minseok is careful not to hit Kyungsoo, who ploughs through, breaking more robot necks than he can count.

In the maze, Jongin has Sehun’s head in his lap to avoid his tongue going limp and suffocating him as Yixing continues… doing whatever he’s doing. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” Jongin demands.

“Shut up, Jongin. He’s not dead,” Jongdae says.

“You don’t _know_ that. He has no pulse,” Jongin snaps.

“But you can heal him, Xing hyung, right?” Baekhyun asks. He bites down on his bottom lip, listening with bated breath. The sounds of metal crunching and freezing are giving him a mild headache.

“I don’t know,” Yixing admits. “I can bring things to life, but healing serious injuries is painful.”

“I think Sehun would rather be in pain and alive than dead,” Jongdae points out.

“We need help here!” Minseok shouts.

Chanyeol gets to his feet and joins Minseok in the doorway.

“Work fast, hyung.” Baekhyun watches Minseok, Chanyeol, and Junmyeon attack, apparently to no avail. He worries his lip because he can’t see Kyungsoo, can only hear the grinding of robots’ machinery.

Yixing sighs and rests his hands over Sehun’s chest.

“You can’t heal his wounds first? You said it’s going to hurt,” Jongin says.

“No. I can’t heal anything that’s dead. I have to bring it to life first.” Yixing tilts his head. “I wish I could do it that way.”

“Fall back, Soo!” Minseok shouts. “This isn’t going to work and if you get hit, you’re as good as dead.” Kyungsoo shoots out of the door. There are scratches all over his face and neck, as if the needles had a chance to hit skin, but not break. He, Chanyeol, Minseok and Junmyeon press against the door, which threatens to burst open.

“Okay, we don’t have many options here. We can’t wait here for them to break down the door,” Junmyeon points out.

“We’re not leaving Sehun here!” Jongin argues. With the memory repressors being digested, he can pull memories from when Sehun had taken care of him. He can recall times when Sehun took him in whenever he was in Edinburgh.

Sehun gasps awake as his heart starts beating again. Yixing smiles down at him. “Welcome back.”

“Why can’t I move?” Sehun breathes. “I can’t see either.”

“Why can’t—” Jongin starts to ask.

Baekhyun grits his teeth. “Shit, I blinded him. Is that something you can fix?”

“I don’t know.” The soft smile he’d worn a second before was gone, a serious expression taking its place. “I don’t know how much I can heal somebody. I can bring people back to life after a short time, but I can’t reattach your hand to your body if you somehow cut it off.”

“Regeneration,” Jongdae says all of a sudden. “You can’t regenerate things that have been severed, but you can heal them. It’s why you can heal burns and all of his other injuries.”

“Does that mean you can fix his eyes?” Baekhyun presses.

“Sehun, this is going to hurt.”

Sehun isn’t prepared for the searing pain from the burn on his thigh. He grips Jongin’s forearms as he screams.

Jongin can only stare in horror.

“Can you do that while running, hyung?” Kyungsoo calls as the robots on the other side of the door slam against them again.

“It’s going to make it all the more painful,” Yixing answers. “But yes.”

“I’m sorry, Sehunnie,” Kyungsoo says. “I’m going to pick you up and Yixing is going to have to heal you on the go. We can’t hold them all off.”

“Jongdae, we’re gonna need a barrage. Short circuit them, even if it’s only temporary,” Minseok instructs.

“Ready, Sehun-ah?” Chanyeol shouts.

Sehun groans in response.

“3, 2…” Kyungsoo hurries forward and scoops Sehun off the ground, the dirt scraping against his knuckles. “1!”

He doesn’t look back as he sprints forward. The sound of running steps behind him and then the crackling of lightning doesn’t stop him. Sehun screaming in his arms does force him to question what to do next. Yixing keeps pace with him, his hands hovering over Sehun’s body, glowing areas a blinding white.

By the end of it, Sehun is breathing heavily, a sweat growing on his brow. He’s also getting heavier as they move forward.

“Soo!” Minseok shouts breathlessly. “We need to slow down.”

Junmyeon chimes in. “We don’t know where we’re going!”

Kyungsoo slows and finally chances looking back. It’s just the nine of them. He takes a deep breath and sets Sehun gently down on the ground. He wipes his brow for him. “How are you feeling, Sehun-ah?”

“Numb,” Sehun answers. “I still can’t see.”

“Can he fix his eyesight?” Baekhyun repeats his question to Jongdae.

Jongdae shrugs. “I don’t know how his power works exactly. He can try. It’ll hurt just as much as everything else, maybe more since the eyes are so sensitive. Assuming he’s not regenerating cells, he’s probably pulling cells from other parts of the body, because those will heal over time since they’re living already.”

“I get it. It’s going to hurt,” Sehun repeats. He takes a deep breath. “Fix me.”

Yixing nods and Jongin replaces Kyungsoo at his side. Minseok is bent over Sehun, running his fingers through his hair. Junmyeon reads the map over Kyungsoo’s shoulder. He points towards the center, a few layers away from them.

Yixing rests his hands over Sehun’s eyes, but Sehun doesn’t react.

“It’s not working,” Minseok whispers. “Why is it not working?”

Wordlessly, Sehun grasps for Minseok’s sleeve. The worry is etching into his forehead, probably also not enjoying the seemingly never-ending darkness. Minseok, Jongin, and Yixing can hear Sehun’s breath picking up and the last thing any of them need is for Sehun to have a panic attack in the maze.

Minseok tries to even out his voice, whispering reassurances to Sehun. He runs his hands through Sehun’s hair and stares at Yixing at a complete loss as to how to help.

“We’ll figure it out,” Yixing mutters.

Baekhyun feels guilt stewing in his stomach. When a hand wraps around his wrist to give it a squeeze, he almost jumps out of his skin. When he checks to see who has a hold of him, it’s Kyungsoo. However, the man’s not looking at him; he and Junmyeon are going through which paths they have to take to get to the center. His hand stays on Baekhyun’s wrist though, his thumb running back and forth against his skin.

They sit for a few minutes, giving Yixing and Jongdae time to work out what can be done. In the end, neither of them comes up with a solution. “I don’t know how to fix this,” Yixing apologizes. “What do you see when you open your eyes, Hun-ah?”

“There’s just… a big black spot in the center of my vision. I can only see the stuff around it.”

“Then you’re fine, Sehun-ah!” Jongdae exclaims. “I know you don’t like the dark, but it’s good for your eyes that we are. The bright light from Baekhyun has just temporarily blinded you. It should fade eventually.”

Baekhyun lets out a sigh of relief. “Thank god.” Kyungsoo gives his wrist another squeeze before letting go and pointing at something.

“So are we ready to move?” Junmyeon asks. “Who knows what those people can see.”

“Oh, can you heal this, hyung?” Kyungsoo asks, lifting his sleeve up. He shows the incision that he’d made earlier to Yixing.

“What’s that from?” Baekhyun demands as the wound pulls together, leaving no trace.

“Microchip?” Minseok guesses.

Junmyeon offers his arm as well and nods. “Okay, everyone stay on high alert. We don’t know what’s in here.”

“We know what’s in here,” Sehun says as he slowly sits up. “Darkness and fear.”

“I can’t believe this was real,” Yixing murmurs, mostly to himself. His hand drags along the wall. Gray dust appears on his fingers. He’d wandered for hours and had hit dead end after dead end. By the time they had hauled him out two days later, he’d accepted death.

“No one’s dying in here,” Chanyeol says. Yixing jumps, worried he’d voiced that memory out loud. But no, Jongin had.

“We’re literally walking through the death maze again. We’re at the bottom of the building, but we aren’t even sure if it is, because the floors _move_ ,” Jongin argues. “I _hate_ this place.”

“Jonginie,” Chanyeol rests an arm around his shoulders and gives the guy a squeeze, “we’re not dying in here.”

“Besides, this floor never moves,” Kyungsoo says as he points left to Junmyeon. “Four floors don’t: ours, this one, the exit and the sixth floor.”

“The sixth floor?” they echo.

“We couldn’t really figure out why,” Junmyeon continues as he follows Kyungsoo’s next direction change. They stop for a moment and double back when Kyungsoo zooms out and finds a dead end a little ways down. “We sort of just guessed that for all of these floors to move, they needed stable reference points.”

“It’s also completely black on the tablet, so we can’t look at it either,” Kyungsoo states.

“Weird.” Sehun pauses for a moment and asks, “Do you think it’s just there so that there can be twelve floors?”

“No, I think there’s a reason for it,” Kyungsoo says as he tugs Junmyeon in the opposite direction. “If I’ve learned anything. They don’t do anything just for the hell of it.”


	23. Day 19, 4:10

**Day 19, 4:10**

Getting to the center takes half an hour with all the winding and the few times they had to double back. But what they find there isn’t what they expect at all.

“This is…”

“Are you sure we’re at the center?” Baekhyun asks, coming up behind Kyungsoo. He’s stayed clear of everyone, worried he’s going to blind someone else.

Kyungsoo nods. “This is the center.”

“There’s no way out here,” Jongin yawns. He’s been leaning on Sehun rather than guiding him, falling asleep at times. Nothing has popped out at them, no one has chased after them. There hasn’t even been an intercom for them to surrender like they were doing every ten minutes upstairs.

“I wonder what they’re hiding inside that they would put it in a maze _and_ on the bottom floor,” Minseok says as he heads towards the door.

“Hyung!” Yixing calls. “If it’s in a… _maze_ ,” he sounds out the word carefully, “and on the bottom floor, do you not think it is…”

“Dangerous,” Sehun finishes for him. “He’s right, hyung. Don’t go in… whatever you’re trying to go into.”

Chanyeol swats Jongin to stand up straight and do his job of explaining what’s going on to Sehun. Jongin whispers what sort of situation they’re in. There are four walls, attached to the ceiling. In comparison to the maze, these walls are just as dark, but a million times more solid. There are no windows and only one door.

Minseok rests his hand against the wall, which is cool to the touch.

“Guys, it’s metal.”

“What’s a giant metal box doing down in this maze of death?” Chanyeol wonders.

The boys have crowded around the door, not liking the still air or the fact that no one has come looking for them since they got rid of the robots. Junmyeon is on his guard, his back to the others as he watches all the entrances to the center.

“Should we go in?” Minseok asks, his hand resting on the doorknob. He jumps back when an electric pulse goes through him. “Okay, never mind. We can’t get in.”

“Why not?” is the general question.

“Electric shock door.”

“So how do they get in?” Yixing enquires. They glance back at him. “Well, they wouldn’t put this here if they couldn’t get in. What’s the point of electric shocking everyone?”

Kyungsoo reaches for the doorknob, the tablet still in his hand. A few seconds pass, but nothing happens. No electric shock or anything. He glances at the tablet, wondering for a second if it has something to do with it. The boys watch with interest as Kyungsoo pushes the door open.

“How…?” Minseok asks.

Kyungsoo provides no explanation. The tablet glows bright in the dark room, but the artificial light is sore on all their eyes. Despite most of the blue having faded, the sensitivity hasn’t gone away. Baekhyun struggles to pull any light towards them. It takes a little while and Chanyeol already has a small fire in his hand burning when they arrive.

“We must be a long way down,” Baekhyun murmurs. The orbs float around them, bathing them in soft light. Chanyeol puts his fire out and they wander through.

“Where are we?” Sehun asks aloud.

No one knows how to answer him.

Junmyeon peers over Kyungsoo’s shoulder at the tablet, but it’s dim. “I don’t think we’re getting enough signal in here.”

“Considering we’re in a _metal box_ ,” Jongin says, “that’s not surprising.”

“Jongin, calm down,” Sehun whispers.

None of them had noticed that Yixing had wandered a little ways away into a different room. He stands in the doorway in shock. Two men sit in cages across from each other. They’re both dressed in the same white uniforms as the nine of them. They don’t notice him, but suddenly the larger one starts snarling.

Yixing watches in amazement, even a bit of horror, as the man starts to lift off the ground. His head bumps against the top of his cage before he moves towards the bars.

The man bangs into all the walls, the blues in his eyes so bright it’s blinding to stare at him too long. He lands in a heap on the floor, heaving. Yixing is about to step towards him to see if he can help in any way, but then the man in the other cage snarls at him. This one has blond hair, tingeing blue at the ends because of his eyes.

“Xing hyung!” Jongin calls. “Where—?”

It doesn’t take them long to find him. They stand in the doorway, peering over his shoulder at the prisoners in front of them.

“What’s happening, Jonginie?” Sehun whispers. He can feel the tense atmosphere.

“Is Zitao in there?” Minseok asks Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo shrugs. He can’t see over the taller ones. Chanyeol and Junmyeon step out of the way to allow him through. He and Minseok stand next to Yixing.

The taller prisoner, who had floated off the ground, acknowledges their presence by spitting. He rushes the bars and shakes them. It makes Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol jump.

Sehun and Jongin have started wandering around in the other room, not being able to see. The older boys deem them too young to be allowed to know what’s going on. Jongin pulls Sehun towards a desk and the two rifle through papers. Sehun has to hold them up in his periphery to read anything.

Meanwhile, Yixing has managed to calm the blond man down enough to get him to talk to them. Minseok is working on breaking him out, but the bars are made of a metal he’s never encountered before. Not even Jongdae can tell him what it is. For some reason, listening to the blond man speak makes his heartache.

Yixing sits in front of his cage. The other boys are too scared to sit so close to one man who is clearly rabid and the another who looks as if he could turn in a second. The blond man’s eyes dart all over the room, settle on Yixing’s face for a few seconds, and then flit around again.

“Do you know your name…” Yixing leans forward to check the number on the collar, “Number 7?”

Number 7 hesitates. His eyes are so bright. Kyungsoo knows they’ve drugged him to high heaven, not caring about dosage. It’s clear that something has gone wrong on these test subjects and the doctors have no idea what to do with them. Considering that one has to have a tablet to manoeuvre the maze to get here, one would need to know they were here.

“Han,” the man manages to choke out.

Yixing stares at him in surprise. “As in _Lu_ Han?” he asks.

Han tips his head to stretch his neck before nodding. “They used to call… call me… me _Luhan_.” His eyes close. “Put both my names together.” His body starts to spasm. There’s an odd movement in his eye as if his brain can’t focus on one thing at a time. It takes a few minutes for it to calm. “W-who are you? Know me?”

Yixing glances over at the others, who look confused. “I, uhm, write to your wife.”

“W-w-w…” Han takes a breath. “Wife?”

“Yes. You have a wife. Do you remember her?”

Minseok passes behind him, so close to Yixing to avoid the other man’s long reach. However, Minseok has already learned that putting your hand through the bars burns skin. He had to have Yixing heal it.

But who knows? Maybe rabidity cancels out pain.

Minseok asks Chanyeol to lift him so he can see if there’s a way to get the cage open from the top.

“A wife,” Han repeats.

“You have a wife and two kids.”

“How is that possible?” Jongdae demands. “If all this started four years ago—”

“I’m 26. Four years ago, people my age were definitely having children,” Minseok says as he tries to feel the bars without burning himself. “He could be around my age instead of yours.”

“A wife,” Han says again.

“And two kids,” Yixing adds. “Who sound as if they inherited the power they gave you.”

Jongdae sighs. “We’re genetically _engineered_. There’s no way—”

“If he was tested on before us, then it would make sense how he was allowed to leave and have a family and then return,” Kyungsoo whispers.

Baekhyun watches in horror when the other man jumps up again. He flies around his cage, crashing more times than would be allowed in a test, before collapsing again. He must sense Baekhyun watching, because his glowing eyes lift to meet his. He bares his teeth at Baekhyun, which are sharpened.

Baekhyun stumbles back into Kyungsoo. “Is that normal?”

Kyungsoo leans around him to see. He shrugs helplessly. “This is beyond anything I’ve experienced here.”

“Do you think Zitao could be here, Soo?” Minseok asks.

Han’s head snaps at this. He starts yelling for Zitao and gets to his feet. The walls begin rattling. In the other room, Jongin and Sehun shout that things are flying around. Jongin tells Sehun to hide under the desk, because the last thing he needs is for Sehun’s eyes to be gouged out.

“Everybody out!” Kyungsoo shouts. He pulls Yixing off the floor. Baekhyun reaches for his arm and tugs him out too. Chanyeol carries Minseok out on his shoulders, nearly knocking the older man right off.

Junmyeon slams the door shut and everything clatters to the floor. “What the hell was that?”

As per usual, their eyes swing to Kyungsoo. Yixing and Minseok help Sehun and Jongin out from under the desk.

“Hyung, I found this,” Jongin says, holding up a file folder. Sehun clears his throat. “Okay, _Sehunnie_ found it. It’s a file on two guys.”

“What does it say?”

Jongin is about to hand it to Sehun to read it, since he did find it. Then he realizes Sehun had struggled just to read Lu Han’s name off the front. It looks like their files, just not as full. “They recruited him when he was 18. He’s Minseokie hyung’s age. They did tests on him to see if the other test subject would be compatible with him.

Chanyeol asks what they all want to know. “What power did they give him?”

Jongin sounds out the word carefully. “Telepathy.”

Jongdae whistles low. “They fucked with his brain.”

“What do you mean?” Sehun asks.

“Telepathy has to do with your brain, we all know that.” Jongdae sees their blank stares. They don’t understand the severity. “Have you noticed that none of our powers comes from our brains? Our powers stem from our hands. We don’t know how they work; we just know that they do. Jongin is the closest thing to what that guy’s had to undergo.”

“But what happened? Why is he here?” Baekhyun enquires.

Jongin skims through the rest of the reports. “There are only a few pages in here, but… they relocated him to Edinburgh” The boys glance at Sehun, whose brow furrows. Jongin continues. “He moved, got married. Then his sons started displaying signs of his power, but Han wasn’t doing well.”

“How do they know all that?” Baekhyun asks.

Junmyeon crosses his arms over his chest, grumbling, “They were obviously studying him.”

Jongin flicks to the last page. “He signed something that says he would remain under their care and that he wouldn’t reproduce.”

“Well yeah, they aren’t sure how their tampering would affect his genes,” Jongdae states.

“That’s why they put him here,” Kyungsoo mutters.

“Because he can stab you without really stabbing you?” Chanyeol asks, missing the point.

“Guys,” Yixing starts, “he has children and a _wife_. A wife who updates him about the kids.”

They lift their eyebrows for explanation.

Yixing shrugs. “I write letters to her in his place.”

“That must mean you knew him,” Jongin says. His eyes go over the page and flips back to something he’d seen. “It says he went to Yunnan before he came back here for the last time.”

“Maybe he went looking for you, hyung,” Sehun muses. “Maybe he knew that something was really wrong and he might not go back.”

“Did you ever meet him?” Minseok asks.

Sehun shrugs. “If I did, I don’t remember. Maybe his kids?” He can feel their eyes on him. “It was just before the eclipse. I don’t… don’t really remember what they look like, but there was a house. I went on a hunch.”

“Alright, what else, Jonginie?” Kyungsoo sighs. “Why did they keep him here?”

Jongin skims to the last paragraph of the second last page. “He can’t control it. Their conclusion…” Jongin hums. “Sensory overload. They can’t keep him under anaesthetic long enough to do anything—”

“Tamper with his brain,” Jongdae cuts in.

“Yeah, that. They can’t keep him under long enough to fix him.”

Baekhyun’s eyes fall to the door. “So they tossed him in here and threw the key away.”

“What about the other guy?” Junmyeon asks. “Anything on him?”

Jongin switches to the bottom folder. “His is even briefer than Han’s.” Inside the folder is one piece of paper. “Wu Yifan, patient 0. They tested on him. Tested too much. He lasted… 80 days after the surgery.”

“They gave him flight, right?” Chanyeol guesses.

Jongin nods.

“How did they screw that up so badly?” Minseok demands. “He flies. It’s simpler than anything we can do.”

“He was patient 0,” Kyungsoo reminds him. “They hardly know what they’re doing with us. It was probably a lot worse when you were the first person they ever tested on.”

Minseok’s ear is against the door. “I think he’s done.”

“Who is Zitao?” Yixing asks before returning to the room.

Minseok and Kyungsoo exchange glances. Apparently they’re the only ones who remember.

Kyungsoo shakes his head, unable to look at any of them. “Zitao was about Jongin and Sehun’s age. They brought him in from China and he definitely showed the most promise in here. They paid the most attention to him.” Kyungsoo sighs. “I only met him a few times.”

“He could control time,” Minseok continues. “He could freeze time and do whatever he wanted in it. It’s a power that could be abused, but all he wanted to do was please the scientists. He loved praise, but in that way that a kid loves praise.”

“When they were done with us, we’d healed and whatever, and could control our powers a little,” Kyungsoo says, “they put us on a plane and dropped us all off. I think they dropped him off in Spain somewhere. I never saw him again.”

They look to Minseok. The expression on his face is enough for them to understand that he didn’t either.

“This is the first time I’m seeing any of you after four years,” Minseok says. “I didn’t know that Zitao disappeared.”

“You just have no idea what happened to him?” Jongin asks. “He just disappeared?”

Kyungsoo nods. “The first time they brought us back, Minseok hyung and Zitao didn’t return. I was sure that hyung was fine. But I lost sight of Zitao.”

They tilt their heads at this odd saying. Kyungsoo briefly explains the door in his apartment in Colorado, what he can see in it. “So I knew where you guys were, if you guys were alright. When I saw Minseok hyung, I knew we were in for the long haul. We weren’t supposed to leave after this one. I just didn’t want to believe it. Zitao showed up the first few times in the first three months we were released, but then he stopped showing up. And my memory was hazy, so I sometimes didn’t think of him. Even when I did remember him, I never saw him.”

Those words hang in the air. Yixing sighs. “If anyone knows, Han knows.”

“We don’t know how it’s going to affect him,” Minseok says.

Junmyeon glances at the door. “We can’t stay much longer in here.”

“We need to let them out,” Yixing insists.

“We can’t,” Jongdae argues.

The boys round on him.

“Didn’t you hear what Jongin said? They’ve tampered with Han’s brain. They’ve ruined Yifan probably forever. That’s why they’re down here. They don’t know what to do with them.”

Minseok gives him an odd look. “We can’t just leave them here.”

“They’re dangerous to society,” Jongdae states.

“So are we,” Chanyeol says. “And we’re trying to get out of here. It’s different if you’re the one trying to get out? These guys don’t even have a fighting chance without our help.”

Jongdae opens his mouth to say more, but Kyungsoo speaks instead. “He’s right. They aren’t safe out there.”

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun demands, surprised at Kyungsoo’s stance on the subject. “We can’t just leave them here. What if it were you?”

“They don’t even have their minds, Baek,” Kyungsoo argues. He hates debates, hates discussing things in big groups. So his eyes don’t leave Baekhyun’s face. “Han can barely hold it together. Yifan is about ready to bite our heads off. We can’t let them out when we don’t know anything about how to help them.”

“Then we figure out how!” Baekhyun yells. “We’re not leaving them here.”

“We can barely take care of ourselves,” Junmyeon says quietly. “There’s no way we’re getting them out of there and to the lobby. We have to take care of ourselves first.”

“They’re one of us.” Chanyeol opens the door. “We’re not leaving until we find a way to get them out.”

“Guys,” Kyungsoo pleads. “We don’t know how much time has passed in here. We don’t know how to help them. We don’t know who they’ve sent to come get us. Do you really want to wait until you have to face your nurses face-to-face? I know they did awful things to us, but they’re _real_. Do you really want to wait that long?”

Yixing, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Minseok stand in the doorway. Then Yixing ducks back inside. Chanyeol and Minseok follow suit. Baekhyun holds Kyungsoo’s gaze for a beat and follows them inside.

“We’re not leaving them, are we?” Sehun asks as soon as they’re gone. “I agree with you guys, but we aren’t just about to leave _them_ , right?”

“We’re not,” Jongin states firmly.

Junmyeon eyes the rest of them. “We’re not leaving them,” he agrees. “We give them some time to figure out what to do and then we take them by force if we have to.”

Kyungsoo stares at the door that leads out. “I just don’t know how much time we have.”

 

**Day 19, 4:38**

“Lu-ge,” Yixing says. “How are you feeling?”

Han has moved to the corner of his cage, the solid walls propping him up. He stares blankly at Yixing.

“Can he even hear you?” Baekhyun asks. He eyes Yifan carefully before squatting down next to Yixing. Chanyeol and Minseok are back to their balancing act as they move around the room, trying to find some way to get in. The bars are too solid to remove. There is no key. There isn’t even a door on the cage.

“Try on the other side,” Minseok says to Chanyeol. “Maybe we can find one on Yifan’s.”

Chanyeol glances up at Minseok. “Are you serious, hyung?”

“We have to exhaust all options. They could be connected or something.”

Reluctantly, Chanyeol moves to the other cage. Yifan’s head snaps up and he glares at Chanyeol. The man stands, glowering, but he doesn’t attack, which is a small comfort.

“Lu-ge,” Yixing tries again. “We just want to talk to you. We don’t want to hurt you.”

“ _I know_ ,” he says in Chinese. His voice comes out clearer. “ _I want to talk_.” He closes his eyes and presses his forehead into the wall. “ _I can’t stay sane long enough_.”

“ _You speak faster this way. Let’s talk like this_ ,” Yixing answers.

Baekhyun stands and opens the door. The others are standing by the exit. They’re all in fighting stance. Kyungsoo glances over his shoulder at him, but Baekhyun’s gaze shifts. “Sehun-ah.”

Sehun turns his head. “Hyung?” He isn’t sure which one.

“Baekhyun hyung,” Jongin whispers.

Baekhyun crosses the room. “Can you come in? Han speaks Chinese and I think it’s more comforting for him if he speaks it.”

“Xing hyung speaks Chinese,” Sehun states lamely. He reaches out for Baekhyun who meets him halfway and grabs his hand. Sehun allows Baekhyun to guide him. It’s darker in the prisoners’ room. Sehun finds himself moving closer to Baekhyun. Just to ease his nerves, Baekhyun lets a small orb float next to Sehun’s left ear.

“They’ve been in the dark a long time. Anything brighter might affect them,” Baekhyun explains. He transfers Sehun’s hand to Yixing, who gives Sehun a light tug to sit down.

Sehun folds himself and is about to reach out for the cage when a familiar voice shouts at him to stop. “ _Don’t. You’ll get burnt._ ”

Sehun turns to Yixing. “ _Is this Han_?”

“ _He can understand you_.”

“ _Lu-ge_ ,” Sehun says, the name falling off his tongue easily. He wouldn’t tell the others, but he knows Yixing won’t say anything. “ _I’m Sehun. You lived in Edinburgh while I did. You were nice to me, but your Korean was better than my Chinese. I think we knew each other before that, but I can’t remember now. I promised you I would learn more Chinese so that we could communicate better. When we met, your wife was about to have twins. They’re big now._ ”

Yixing watches Han’s face as Sehun speaks. The older man slowly sits up straighter. Yixing hadn’t known that Han had twins.

“ _They’ve got your talent, Lu-ge. They look a lot like their mother. I know you were worried they would inherit… your… your curse. But don’t worry about them. They practice and from what I’ve seen, they don’t lose control the way you do_.”

Han crawls towards Sehun. He sits in front of him. Sehun’s hand is wrapped around one bar and Han’s hand wraps around his. No burning.

“ _You saw them_?”

Sehun nods. He turns his face in Han’s general direction. “ _Yes. They’re okay, Lu-ge_.”

“ _I remember you, Sehun. In between… everything else._ ” Han pauses to collect his thoughts. “ _You’re an idiot most of the time. I hope you still dance though._ ” His laugh is watery, as if he’s holding back tears. He can feel another seizure coming on. “ _I only have a few more minutes._ ”

“Anything, guys?” Yixing asks Minseok and Chanyeol. They’ve dropped the balancing act and have moved on to trying to dig at the ground and free them from under ground.

Han continues speaking to Sehun with the last few minutes he has. “ _If you ever see them again, tell them to move on, okay? That I love them, hmm?_ ”

“ _We’re taking you with us._ ”

Han turns to Yixing as he feels the spasm coming on again. He releases Sehun’s hand and pushes his back into the wall. “ _They’re coming. You need to go. Leave me here_.”

“ _Zitao, Han_ ,” Yixing says desperately as he stands. He pulls Sehun up, who looks at him confused. Baekhyun watches their exchange. He understands the vibe now and joins Chanyeol and Minseok in their last desperate attempts to get them out. Yifan seems to have calmed slightly in their presence, however, he’s getting amped up again. The air is shifting.

“ _He’s dead,_ ” Han says. “ _Came in years ago. They ruined him. Lost him. Killed him. Go._ ” Things in the other room begin clattering again. Yixing ushers everyone out. Sehun holds onto the bar. If he sticks his arm through to reach for Han, he’ll burn. But he can’t just find him again and leave.

“Hyung, we have to do something!” Sehun shouts.

“We cannot do anything, Sehun-ah,” Yixing says quietly. “Come on.”

“Guys!” Kyungsoo shouts. “They’re coming! The ground is shaking. There’re a lot of them.”

“We have to go, Sehun-ah.”

“We can’t leave him here, hyung!” Sehun cries.

Yixing calls for Jongin, Minseok, and Kyungsoo. It takes all four of them to drag Sehun out of the prisoners’ room. His yelling aggravates Yifan more; Han’s spasm becomes more violent.

“We need to move,” Junmyeon says. “Kyungsoo says we have seconds.”

“And Lu-ge says we need to move now,” Yixing retorts.

“We can’t leave him!” Sehun shouts at everyone. “We can’t leave him here when I finally found him! He has a wife and kids! We _can’t_.”

Everyone freezes at Sehun’s outburst. Then Baekhyun, surprising everyone, crosses the room and grabs Sehun by the shoulders. “There is no way out of that cage, Sehun. They sealed them in there. They were never meant to come out of there. Ever.” He swipes angrily at his own tears with the back of his hand. “They weren’t meant to be cured. What we do for Han and Yifan and Zitao is get them justice. We get the hell out of here, find our loved ones, find theirs and tell them what happened. Lu-ge gave you a message for his wife and kids.”

Sehun nods his head, tears spilling down his face.

“Then you are going to live to see them and share it. Do it for Han.”

Kyungsoo looks to Jongin. “How many people can you teleport at one time?”

“As many as can hold onto me.”

“Can you teleport in here?”

Jongin thinks about it for a moment. “Hard to tell in here.”

Junmyeon motions for them to follow. However, Sehun hesitates a moment. Yixing and Jongin watch him carefully, ready to jump him. As he starts moving back, they reach out for him. When Sehun starts towards the desk, Jongin understands. He grabs the files and then takes Sehun’s elbow and guides him out of the room.

“Can you do it?” Kyungsoo asks again. The floor is vibrating in the soles of his feet. He didn’t realize strength meant that he could feel Earth vibrations, but there it is. He’s sure that the nurses would love to have that to play with.

Jongin’s eyes close and he can feel the familiar pull of the space around him. He nods his head. “Yes, but only in the maze. I can’t teleport us to a different floor.”

“Whatever. Just get us out of here,” Kyungsoo says.

Jongdae already has a hand on Jongin. “Close your eyes. It’s less terrifying that way.”

The others hold on tight. Jongin finds teleporting nine bodies at one time difficult, but he’s done ten in testing so he hopes those tests were good for something. He can feel the space rip and steps through. They wind up in a different part of the maze. Kyungsoo shakes his head.

“Again, Jonginie. They’re still close.”

He has to do it three more times before Kyungsoo deems it far enough that they can come up with a plan. Sehun clutches the files to his chest, Jongin’s arm wrapped through his. Kyungsoo hurries them along. Jongin couldn’t get them right to the outer rim, so they have to find their way themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We made it! All of EXO have now been mentioned. I wrote this back in 2016, did it for my personal yearly writing project. I was a massive EXO-L and still pumping ot12 at the time and it didn't feel right if I didn't include everybody. So while you don't get any Tao interaction, I thought that his power would be one of the more difficult to manage.   
> And every experiment has its failures.


	24. Day 19, 5:03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit longer than the other parts, but I didn't want to split them up.  
> Please leave comments, let me know what you think. :D

**Day 19, 5:03**

“Soo!” Junmyeon says.

Standing just up ahead at the exit to the outer rim are a few nurses. However, these nurses look different than everything they’ve been up against tonight.

First of all, they breathe.

“They’re real,” Chanyeol whispers.

“All right, boys, we’ve let you have your fun.” It sounds like Kyungsoo’s nurse. “It’s almost time for your group testing this morning. You won’t be able to perform to the best of your abilities because of this charade.” She sighs. “But the boss believes you will still be able to attract buyers. The government is particularly interested.”

They’ve pushed Kyungsoo to the back to come up with an escape plan. Minseok is there too, muttering about stairwells and floor movements. Meanwhile, Junmyeon tugs Chanyeol and Baekhyun to either side of him to stall for time. The easiest course of action would be to drown them, light them on fire, kill them. But they’re going to do everything in their power to stall long enough for the others to figure a way out.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun know they need to use their talents well: their talent to talk like their lives depend on it.

“I think we should be allowed to know what exactly we were created for,” Baekhyun says. “We’ve been in the dark long enough.”

Nurse Three squints at them from under her visor. The vibrant red is ominous in the maze’s atmosphere. “I see that your memories have started returning. Regardless, even if I told you, you wouldn’t remember anyway. Come along, boys.”

Sehun’s hand clenches around the files. “No.”

“Where are you going to go?” she demands.

“We’re not going to go with you,” Sehun says. “You’ve done enough damage to us.”

“Don’t you want to help others like you?” Nurse Three asks.

Chanyeol huffs. “You guys keep dodging the question. If you’re going to wipe our memories anyway, what does it hurt to tell us why you modified us? What harm are we to you if you can subdue us with medication?”

Nurse Three has no response.

Meanwhile, Baekhyun’s eyes search out for his nurse. She’s got a firm head on her shoulders, still seems to have a grasp on reality. But he can’t find her. He counts eight nurses; his is missing. “Where is Nurse Ninety-Eight?”

“Attending to other matters,” is Nurse Three’s curt answer. Her tone has changed. “Now, all of you have said you wouldn’t kill unless necessary, so we know that you will not use your powers on us. Number 88’s power does not work beyond these walls and we’ve spread out throughout the maze. There is nowhere for you to go.”

Kyungsoo whispers to Minseok. “There’s a door just behind them. If we can get through it, the floors should be aligned properly right now since they’re here. We should make it to the second floor.”

“The second floor? We want out,” Minseok hisses.

“I think I know the way out,” Kyungsoo replies.

“Now is not the time for thinking, it’s for knowing.”

“We don’t know _anything_ ,” Kyungsoo hisses. “This is a gut instinct. But we need to go now.”

Minseok taps Sehun’s shoulder. He whispers that he has a message to send to everyone.

A warm breeze swirls through the group, Minseok’s voice floating on it.

“ _I know we didn’t want to do it this way, but we have no choice. So don’t hold back. Strike hard; follow Kyungsoo out. Junmyeon, on your count._ ”

The boys square up, hands twitching as they wait for Junmyeon to make the first move. He closes his eyes to steady his hand. His wave starts slow, it’s almost unnoticeable. Then it surges forward. The nurses seem to have anticipated it, quickly ducking behind walls.

As they move forward, Junmyeon shouts, “Guns!” Then the others hear the first few shots echo.

Baekhyun’s next to strike. The orbs of light he’d dragged down from the upper floors pulsate in their eyes. He doesn’t think twice about blinding them. Chanyeol surrounds them in flames as Jongdae hurls lightning. The sound of gunfire rings clear over the sound of all the crackling. Then the screaming starts.

Kyungsoo takes the opportunity. He grabs Minseok’s arm, who in turn grabs Sehun. Minseok creates a barrier of ice between Chanyeol’s blaze and the wall so that they can slip by. The boys keep a hand on each other, ears attempting to block out the screaming that slowly die off. Kyungsoo yanks a door open that none of them could see. The last of Jongdae’s thunder zaps out and most of them don’t look back at the mess of bodies they leave in their wake.

Junmyeon slams the door shut, his eyes the last to see the nurses. He swears he sees Kyungsoo’s nurse twitch for a second, but there’s no movement from anyone else. Yixing’s hand around his pulls him forward, not giving him a second to think about it.

“Where are we going, Soo?” Jongdae shouts, struggling to keep up with Chanyeol’s pace.

Kyungsoo rips the next door right off its hinges and drags them through it. The tablet in his hand is about to zap off and he’s sure that if it does, they won’t be able to get out of here. He almost rips Minseok’s shoulder out of its socket too as he pulls another door open. He sighs in relief when he sees the stairs pointing up.

“Assume the worst when we get out there,” Junmyeon warns before Kyungsoo pulls them out. “Assume there will be guns and they’ll try to take you by force. Jongin, you and Sehun teleport right out of here. You don’t think about us, run.”

“Hyung—”

“No excuses,” Minseok whispers to Sehun and Jongin.

Sehun pulls Minseok’s hand back. He rests his forehead against Minseok’s shoulder. “I remember you, hyung. I remember you.”

Minseok kisses the top of his head. “Good. Because Mom will kill me if you get home and can’t remember that I exist.”

“We’re all getting out of here in one piece,” Baekhyun calls over their heads. “Don’t count us for dead just yet.”

Sehun takes a deep breath. “We have to find Dr. Yi too.”

“What? Why the hell—?” Chanyeol demands.

“She came in to save us,” Sehun says. “I don’t know if you guys had the same experience as I did with her. She’s here to save us. Who would have gotten that girl guard to give us all that information?”

“We’ll find Dr. Yi,” Minseok says. “But you two,” he looks at Jongin over Sehun’s shoulder, “you two are leaving.”

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. “Okay, I’m opening this door and we rush,” he calls over his shoulder.

A comforting hand squeeze passes through them, reaching Kyungsoo’s right hand. With his shoulder, he busts the door and uses it as a potential shield. However, there’s no one there. The lobby is empty, the lights off.

As Kyungsoo drops the door, he looks to Sehun and Jongin. Sehun’s vision is clearing slightly, but everything has a grey haze over it. He doesn’t feel so bad leaving.

“We’ll be in Edinburgh and then we’re heading to Korea,” Jongin announces. “Call if you need us.”

“Bye hyung,” Sehun says to his brother.

“We’re gonna see each other again,” Junmyeon insists. “We’re just going to hunt for Dr. Yi and then we’re out of here. You two go.” He slaps their shoulders and the two younger ones disappear in a whoosh.

“Okay, fan out,” Minseok calls out.

“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun exclaims, hurrying forward.

The boys all turn at Baekhyun’s voice and then notice Kyungsoo collapsed in his arms. A blood stain begins spreading across Kyungsoo’s chest.

“Okay, okay, we can fix this one,” Yixing mutters when the boys separate to make room for him. He lifts the bottom of Kyungsoo’s shirt. “I need to take the bullet out.”

“With what?” Baekhyun demands.

“We can heal him, Baek,” Chanyeol says, “calm down.”

“I have a dying Kyungsoo in my hands and you’re telling me to _calm down_!” Baekhyun yells up at him. “Someone do something!”

“Somewhere on this floor, there has to be—”

“We can’t take it out without surgical equip—”

“We have a man that heals people!” Jongdae shouts over everyone’s voices. “Someone just rip the damn thing out of him!”

“We can’t just rip it out of him!” Baekhyun shouts back.

Minseok takes Kyungsoo out of Baekhyun’s arms, who is now shouting at Chanyeol and Jongdae. Jongdae’s face is turning red while he yells.

Meanwhile, Minseok and Yixing are examining the bullet wound.

“I can dig it out,” Minseok says. “I can see it.”

“There’s no exit wound either,” Junmyeon chimes in.

“We really shouldn’t do it without surgical—” Minseok huffs, irritated by the other boys arguing how they’re going to handle Kyungsoo’s wound. “You three!”

Their heads snap in Minseok’s direction.

“Go search that hallway. See if you can find Dr. Yi. Stop fighting. Kyungsoo is going to be fine.”

Baekhyun and Jongdae look as if they’re going to protest.

Junmyeon splashes water in their direction, causing them to jump. “We’re out. We’re safe. Relatively. Go find Dr. Yi.”

The three boys wander off, Chanyeol keeping Baekhyun and Jongdae separate.

Junmyeon splashes a bit of water over Kyungsoo’s wound to clean the blood. Minseok creates two slender and sharp icicles to mimic tweezers.

“It will melt quickly,” Yixing informs him. “His body is creating a fever in response to the wound.”

“So you’re telling me, work fast.”

“I am saying I do not know if it will work like this,” Yixing says.

Minseok takes a deep breath and quickly works at taking the bullet out. He has to maintain the temperature of the icicle to prevent it from melting against Kyungsoo’s blood. It takes fiddling, but he manages to slip the bullet out. Yixing is quick to heal the muscle, sinew, tissues and skin around it.

Slowly, the colour returns to Kyungsoo’s cheeks and the wound goes red to purple to non-existent.

“What happened?” Kyungsoo mumbles, eyes closed, still cradled in Minseok’s lap.

“Bullet took you right down,” Junmyeon tells him.

“Seriously?” he grumbles. “So much for superhuman.”

“We can’t _all_ dodge bullets,” Minseok chuckles. “How are you feeling?”

Kyungsoo sighs and Minseok guides him up to sitting. “I think I’m okay now.”

Yixing nods, but rests a hand over Kyungsoo’s head. Kyungsoo’s shoulders relax slightly.

“Did you just relax him?” Junmyeon asks, staring up at Yixing.

Yixing shrugs. “I have been experimenting with my powers. Apparently, I can heal and sometimes adjust people’s mood.”

“Since when?” Minseok asks. “Those aren’t even related.”

“You are healthier if you feel good?” Yixing tries. He leads the way down the opposite hallway that the other three had taken.

 

**Day 19, 5:22**

“I can’t believe we’re out,” Chanyeol starts, “and you two are fighting.”

“Kyungsoo is _dying_ and you guys are acting like it’s no big deal,” Baekhyun grumbles.

“I just killed more than eight people,” Jongdae states. “And you’re worried about a dying man who can be healed.”

Baekhyun glances at his friend’s face. The man’s eyes are glazed over. “Dae, you didn’t kill eight people.”

The head nod Jongdae gives is robotic. “Tell that to the eight dead people in the basement.”

“Dae, we all helped,” Chanyeol reasons as he pokes his head into a room, flames at the ready. The dead people explain Jongdae’s attitude earlier. “You didn’t do it alone.”

“I finished them off,” Jongdae utters. “And I did it without thinking.”

“It was our lives or theirs,” Baekhyun insists, apparently also understanding Jongdae’s train of thought.

“But does that mean I had to _take_ them?”

“I personally prefer living,” Chanyeol answers from inside another room he clears. “And if you hadn’t killed them, we’d never see another free day. It’d be like taking our own lives.”

“Dae, we’re all guilty,” Baekhyun adds, also finding Chanyeol’s statements less than comforting.

Jongdae glances at both of them. “You don’t show it.”

“My sarcastic comments are my way of not thinking about it,” Chanyeol states. They stop in front of Dr. Yi’s office. Hers has been ravaged through the most.

“It doesn’t look like she left on her own,” Baekhyun comments as they start going through her things.

Jongdae half-heartedly looks through the drawers at her desk. He can’t stop thinking about the storm he unleashed. Yes, all he wanted to do was keep his friends safe; to get away from this hellhole they’ve been trapped in. But he didn’t want to kill anyone.

“Hey,” Chanyeol murmurs, a hand on his shoulder. Baekhyun rummages through file cabinets in the other corner of the room. “I know your brain is wired like a literal machine and you think in logic and facts. So focus on the logic and facts right now.”

Jongdae lifts his eyes to Chanyeol. “How?”

Chanyeol looks around the room before his eyes are drawn to the window. “Think about where we are and how we’re going to get past the mountains without Jongin.”

Jongdae glances over his shoulder and nods, knowing that Chanyeol is right. They have an objective: Find Dr. Yi and then get the hell out of here. Chanyeol pats his shoulder twice before going through the shelves.

For a few minutes, all that can be heard is the shuffling of papers. They’re not sure what they’re supposed to be looking for. That is until Jongdae calls, “Chanyeol.”

The two other boys look over.

Slowly, Jongdae pulls a picture frame out from the bottom drawer that had been hidden beneath piles of papers deemed unimportant. When Jongdae turns it around for the other two to see, Baekhyun and Chanyeol lean closer in surprise. It’s a self-taken photo of Chanyeol and Dr. Yi with Dr. Yi laughing as Chanyeol pulls a goofy face in the background.

“You knew her,” Jongdae states, handing over the frame.

Chanyeol stares hard at the photo. His fingers run over her features. The face looks exactly like Dr. Yi’s. The freckles that spatter across his face bring a small smile to his face. “She cut her hair…”

“You didn’t say you recognized her,” Baekhyun points out.

Jongdae shakes his head. “I don’t think he did.”

“But if you’re taking photos like that—” Baekhyun jumps away in surprise when Jongdae points his finger at him, a small lightning bolt shocking his skin. “What are you doing?”

“Did you find anything?” Jongdae steers the conversation elsewhere.

Baekhyun rubs his forearm in annoyance. “All the files on us are gone.”

“Great.”

“Who do you think would want them?”

“GUYS!” Junmyeon shouts, running into the room. “We found her.”

Chanyeol looks up the fastest. “Where? Is she okay?”

Junmyeon notes the frame in Chanyeol’s hand. He can see a bit of the photo. Kyungsoo mentioned to be careful about telling Chanyeol what they found. He now knows why and he doesn’t have the heart to say it. He simply motions for them to follow.

“The place is empty,” Junmyeon informs them. “I think they sent the nurses in as a last resort.”

Baekhyun asks, “Did you find Nurse Ninety-Eight?”

Junmyeon winces and clamps his mouth shut. They move through the halls they never got to visit. Chanyeol’s heart rate accelerates in anticipation, his fingers wrapping tightly around the picture frame in his hand.

“Hyung, why aren’t you answering questions?” Jongdae prompts.

Junmyeon stops in front of the doors for the gymnasium. “I…” He has no words to make this better. “I’m so sorry.” He pushes the door open and Chanyeol runs in, Baekhyun at his heels. Sitting in the center of the room are two empty chairs. The boys are standing around something, Kyungsoo kneeling as he lays something down on the floor.

Chanyeol slides in as Kyungsoo puts her head down. It’s Nayeon, her face bloodied as if they’ve punched her. There’s a stab wound in her gut. He looks to Yixing for any reassurance, but the man shakes his head.

“I tried, but she has been…”

Chanyeol doesn’t have to hear the words ‘dead too long’ to know that’s what Yixing was going to say. Kyungsoo moves out of the way to allow Chanyeol room to cradle Nayeon’s head in his lap. He touches her freckles, her blue lips. He doesn’t realize he’s crying until a teardrop falls onto her cheek. Softly, he wipes it away with his thumb. If he thinks hard enough, he can pretend she’s just sleeping.

Chanyeol pulls her to him, sobbing into her hair. Suddenly, as if seeing her was all it took to open the floodgates, memories rush to the forefront of his mind of this woman he fell in love with. The one who brought him the poster, expecting him to take it as a joke.

“She told me she’d been recruited the first time around,” Baekhyun tells Kyungsoo, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth. “And she said she was impressed by how much progress I’d made.”

“There used to be a lot of people around, but then we started getting dangerous,” Kyungsoo murmurs. He glances at Baekhyun, double taking when he notices that Baekhyun is talking about his nurse and not Dr. Yi. “They only took the best of the best,” Kyungsoo finishes.

“She must have known a lot,” Baekhyun states, squatting down beside Nurse Ninety-Eight’s head. He doesn’t even know her real name.

“I guess they thought she cared too much despite that,” Kyungsoo answers.

His nurse isn’t as bloody as Nayeon, but they share the same wound. Kyungsoo rests a hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, rubbing his thumb back and forth. Baekhyun’s hand reaches up to grip his. Not for the first time in this place, Kyungsoo has no idea what to do.

“Did it hurt?” Chanyeol asks Yixing, the closest to him.

Yixing glances at Minseok, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon. How does he answer?

Chanyeol notices it. “Tell me the truth, hyung.”

“Yes,” Yixing whispers. “It hurt.”

Chanyeol swallows past the lump in his throat. “Could we have saved her?”

Yixing shakes his head. “No. From what I can tell, she has been… they… last night. It happened last night. We would not have gotten to her in time even if we were an hour faster.”

“Why?” Chanyeol looks down at her beautiful face. He wants to wipe the blood away. He hears a rip and then Junmyeon is offering a piece of cloth to him. With the blood gone, she looks how she always does. The freckles he loves so much are there. The constellations he used to trace on them makes his throat constrict even tighter. All her long hair is gone, but she looks beautiful in all cuts. But he’ll never be able to tell her.

He presses his forehead to her head, pulling her closer again. “We have to take her too,” he murmurs. She’s gone, he knows, but he can’t bear to leave her here.

“Chanyeol, you’re going to have to burn the building down,” Junmyeon says softly.

“Huh? Why?”

“We’re not leaving anything here. Machines, medication, papers they couldn’t find. Everything is going to go. We’re not leaving any evidence behind here,” he explains.

“We don’t even know _where_ we are,” Baekhyun points out.

“You want to stay here for another night?” Kyungsoo asks. He straightens up, but his hand doesn’t leave Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun stands up, focusing on Kyungsoo’s hand rather than his nurse on the floor. “You want to lay here waiting for them to come and find us? You must know that there were other people that would have bid for us. They’ll come looking tomorrow.”

“They’ll be coming today if no one’s told them,” Yixing reasons.

“So we need to leave as soon as possible,” Jongdae states. The dead bodies have numbed him. He’s surprised he hasn’t toppled over.

“I can’t leave her here,” Chanyeol says, his voice breaking.

“Chanyeol…” Kyungsoo starts to say.

Minseok puts a hand on the doctor’s leg. They watch as Nayeon’s body goes a bit more rigid. “That should hold until we can get her somewhere we can…” He doesn’t know what he wants to say.

Chanyeol carries her bridal style. His knees almost buckle underneath him when he realizes that he won’t be able to carry her like this. They won’t ever be able to get married. There are so many things he won’t be able to do now.

Junmyeon rests a hand on Chanyeol’s back; Minseok takes his other side. The two men hold him steady as they head towards the door. Kyungsoo leads the way, Baekhyun at his side as they move out of the place.

“Did you guys find anything important?” Kyungsoo asks him.

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Our files are gone.”

“Not surprising.”

“Do you think they’ll try again?” Baekhyun asks.

“You think we’ve won?” Kyungsoo wonders.

“We’re untraceable.”

“They know we’ll go back to our families,” Kyungsoo says. “Sehun and Jongin are going there right now. It’d be easy for them to wait for us to go home.”

“But would they? Who’s left?”

“The doctors who put that stuff in us. The person who decided that it was a good idea to even do it. The people who wanted to buy us and the research.”

Baekhyun watches his feet move beneath him. He’s aware of Kyungsoo’s hand in his own, how the other hasn’t let go, or the way their fingers intertwine together. “What do you think they’re doing with the research?”

“From the way they were testing us this last time, I think they’re trying to weaponize us.”

“Make super soldiers,” Yixing mutters. “It makes sense.”

Kyungsoo nods. “They made us into destructible weapons.”

“You say that like the next step would have been to make us indestructible,” Baekhyun says.

Jongdae speaks up. “It wouldn’t make sense to have weapons that can be killed with a gun. Kyungsoo’s train of thought makes sense. Why inject powers into humans if you can get rid of them with a tank?”

“And they tried to dehumanize us,” Junmyeon says. “The way Nurse Three was talking to us. She believed we weren’t going to do anything, because they thought that was our flaw.”

“That we have emotions?” Baekhyun demands.

“It makes us unpredictable,” Minseok says. “Like Sehunnie. We didn’t realize he would care so much about Han. Or Dr. Yi about Chanyeol. She came in here for him. Her emotions eventually beat out whatever else they were offering her. They want weapons they can control. Without emotions, we’re easily manipulated.”

“So what next?” Baekhyun asks. “We can’t let them create people like that.”

Kyungsoo pushes the door open and they’re all hit with the winter air.

“Fuck, where are we going to go?” Jongdae asks as they file out. It’s freezing, but the feeling of freedom is overwhelming. Baekhyun drops Kyungsoo’s hand in his excitement. He runs through the snow, whooping as he goes. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. The other boys join him until it’s just Chanyeol and Kyungsoo standing there.

“I’m sorry,” Kyungsoo says to Chanyeol, watching the others play.

“For what?”

“It feels like my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. Kyungsoo, nothing is your fault.”

Kyungsoo shrugs. He knows it’s ridiculous to think it is. “I know, but I feel like if anyone would have been able to help her, it would have been me.”

“I don’t blame you. I don’t blame anyone but the people who did this to us.” He kisses Nayeon’s forehead. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now without her.”

Kyungsoo has no words for him. He knew that Chanyeol and Nayeon had been friends forever. She was volunteering in the Facility. Not that Kyungsoo will tell Chanyeol that. Maybe it’s a memory that will return on its own. When Nayeon had found out what exactly they were doing, she quit, as did many others. She had gotten on that plane and never left Chanyeol’s side. Kyungsoo isn’t surprised that they were still together. He was sure they were going to get married. The Facility put an end to that.

“Are you going to tell Baekhyun how you feel?” Chanyeol asks.

“Huh?”

Chanyeol snorts. “If this experience has taught me anything, Soo, it’s that we don’t have time to waste. Because who knows who’s going to abuse it.”

Kyungsoo blinks. “Zitao, do you remember him?”

“I just know the name because of Han. Why?”

“The sixth floor. Why it never moved. I think Zitao died during a test on that floor.”

“What makes you think that?”

“It just makes sense, you know?”

“ _How_?”

“The sixth floor never moves. Not only is it the middle, so it would have been perfect to do our testings, but it’s black. You can’t open the floor on that tablet.”

“It sounds as if you have a theory.”

“I think Zitao altered time so much it killed him. He screwed it up so badly that that floor is just stuck on a warped sense of time.”

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“You’ve been inside that building. There are no rules.”

There’s proof of that in his arms. “I guess you’re right. We’ll never know, will we?”

Before Kyungsoo can respond, Baekhyun runs forward and tackles him into the snow. Kyungsoo stares at him bewildered. “What are you doing?”

“Loosen up a little. You have that frown on your face that I don’t like.” He pokes the crease between Kyungsoo’s eyes, which surprises him.

His eyebrows shoot up and the two of them lie there staring at each other. Baekhyun breaks out into a smile before getting up and running away to jump on Jongdae. Kyungsoo slowly sits up and rubs the snow out of his hair. He adjusts his quiff, fixing the way his hair is falling.

Chanyeol glances back at him, a sad smile on his face as he trudges forward in the snow.

 

**Day 19, 6:41**

The boys have made it up the mountainside. The Facility sits in the valley below them. Junmyeon takes Nayeon in his arms as Chanyeol and Jongdae prepare themselves.

“Alright, whenever you’re ready. Light it up,” Kyungsoo says.

They wait and then a small spark appears at the base of the building.

“You sent them away because you didn’t want Sehun to watch, didn't you?” Junmyeon says to Kyungsoo.

“He already had a hard time leaving,” Kyungsoo says.

Baekhyun wraps an arm around his shoulders. “We couldn’t have saved them, Soo. Those bars were solid. There was no door to them either.”

Yixing has his back turned to the scene. He can’t watch knowing who’s in there. Jongdae tries not to listen to what the others are saying as he sparks a few of the fires Chanyeol has started. The fires explode on contact and light the building up. It takes a while to get anything going, but when the first part of the ceiling collapses thirty minutes later, the boys move on.

Minseok leads the way forward. “The first city we get to, we sleep and then find a way to the airport.”

“With what money?”

“We call Jongin to come get us and get us home.”


	25. Edinburgh, 19:03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the end here people! Next part will be the last :D

**Edinburgh, 19:03**

Jongin returns to Sehun’s apartment with seven tag-alongs. As the others detangle themselves from him, Jongin announces, “I’m never doing that again. We’re taking a plane home.”

“Have you guys called your parents already?” Junmyeon asks.

Jongin shakes his head. “We can’t remember their numbers or where we live.”

Minseok’s brow furrows. “How did Sehun take that?”

“I sent him to go see Lu-ge’s wife instead. He started getting anxious. Where’s Dr. Yi?” Jongin asks, seeing Chanyeol’s empty arms. Kyungsoo had quietly filled him in over the phone.

“I left her there,” Chanyeol answers. He takes a deep breath. “I explained the special circumstances and they said that they’ll fly her to Seoul when we head back.”

“You explained that she was tortured and stabbed and left to bleed to death?” Jongin asks.

Jongdae gives Jongin a sharp kick to the shins and shakes his head. “Too soon,” he murmurs. He moves around Jongin to find somewhere to lie down. Kyungsoo is already on the couch. His eyes are closed and Jongdae takes a seat next to his head.

“Are you okay?”

Jongdae was sure that he’d been sleeping. Guess not. “Okay? Yes, I’m okay. We’re out, aren’t we? We haven’t been sold.”

Kyungsoo cracks an eye open for a moment to scrutinize him. Then he settles again, arms over his chest. “Mm. I guess there’s that.”

“What? You’re not okay?”

“I could be better.”

Jongdae turns and wiggles down until the couch props up his head. “I can’t stop seeing their faces.”

“It was you or them, Dae,” Kyungsoo whispers.

“So I’ve been told.” He pauses. “I almost wish it was me.”

“Jongdae.”

“I know, I know. They were bad people, whatever. It’s Han and Yifan I can’t stop thinking about. When we had to crumble the building, I didn’t care about the nurses. I had pushed them away as bad people. But Luhan and Yifan weren’t bad people.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t try to comfort him, because he feels that pain too. He rests a hand on Jongdae’s shoulder and squeezes it. When Jongdae’s cheek falls onto his knuckles, he sighs.

“I’m sorry, Dae.”

“Don’t apologize,” he mumbles. “It’s not your fault.”

 

**Edinburgh, 20:05**

Jongin finds space for everyone. Most of them fall asleep as soon as Jongin hands them blankets. Sehun’s bed is stripped bare of its blankets and comforters. The pillows are distributed and then he realizes he and Sehun have nowhere to sleep. Rather than dealing with it, he makes a cup of tea.

When he hears the door open, he starts on another one. Sehun stands in the kitchen just as the water begins to boil.

“They’re all here,” Sehun states.

Jongin nods. “They called me two hours ago. They were frozen. I gave them all the blankets in your house.”

Sehun chuckles, the sound hollow. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“How was Lu-ge’s wife?”

Sehun moves towards the kettle, taking over from Jongin. He just needs to do something with his hands. Listening to Eva cry about everything he had to tell her was draining. The twins were sent up to bed before Sehun would speak, but he’s sure he saw one of their blankets draping around the corner.

When he went to get Eva something to drink, he ushered them up to bed before she could see them.

“Why is our mummy crying?” the younger one had asked.

Sehun shook his head and told them that she would probably be like this for a long time. “Take care of her, okay? Make sure she eats enough, that she remembers to take you to school.”

“We take ourselves to school,” the older one said, his hair dark like his mother’s.

“Good, keep doing that.”

“Are you a friend of our dad?”

Sehun bit down hard on his lip. “Yes, I am. He wants you to know that he loves you both a lot.” He nudged them up the stairs. “Now go to bed.”

“I felt bad for leaving her,” Sehun says to Jongin now. He pulls his tea bag out and tosses it into the garbage. “But I didn’t want you spending the night on your own either. Guess I didn’t have to worry.”

Jongin watches Sehun as he puts cream into his mug. He rests his hand on Sehun’s back. “Hey, she’ll be okay.”

“But—”

“It wasn’t your fault that Han decided to volunteer. It’s their fault that they didn’t stop when they knew it was damaging. It’s their fault that they locked Han in that basement and never planned to release him.”

“Because we were more important,” Sehun mutters.

“Because we were more promising experiments.”

“You think they’re making more of us?”

“I think they’re going to genetically create children that are like us and then train them to kill.”

Sehun chews on his bottom lip. “So they’ll leave us alone?”

Jongin shrugs. “Hopefully.”

“But…”

“I know. I don’t know if we should do something about the fact that they have all the research.” He tilts his head. “What did you do with the files you took?”

“They’re in my room. I want to read them more thoroughly.”

“There isn’t much in there. You’ll torture yourself trying to find ways to cure them.”

Sehun shrugs. “I’ve been tortured for four years, I think a little while longer won’t kill me.”

“It’ll drive you insane.”

“But I have you to take care of me, so it’s okay.”

Jongin opens his mouth to argue, but decides that it’s a better alternative for Sehun. “Fine.”

Sehun leans his hip on the counter. He chews on his lip. Jongin waits him out, because he looks as if he has something to say.

“I just…”

Jongin sips his tea to give him time.

“There’s just so much… I just want to hurt someone for everything they did to us. For everything they did to Lu-ge. For taking Xing-ge away from his country. For moving us so far away from home. For separating us from our families. I need something to hurt.”

A violent wind begins sweeping through the kitchen as Sehun fuels his own anger. Jongin steps closer to Sehun to stay in the eye of the storm, watching things crash to the floor. Cupboard doors swing open and his dishes shatter. Sehun’s head is ducked as he wallows in his anger, so he doesn’t see his hyungs standing in the doorway.

Jongin motions with his hand that he’s got this. They hesitate for a moment, but then Junmyeon turns around and the others follow suit. With the older ones out of the way, Jongin faces Sehun. With his teacup carefully balanced between his teeth, he tilts Sehun’s chin up.

His face is red; his eyes are thankfully not blue like Jongin had feared. They’re glossed over in tears. In a swift motion, he tugs Sehun to his chest, careful not to spill his hot tea in the whirlwind Sehun’s creating.

It takes a few minutes, but the whirlwind slowly dies away, the hot air moving towards the open windows. Jongin rubs large circles on his friend’s back. When Sehun stops shaking his arms, he pulls away. The cup goes onto the counter and he says, “Better?”

Sehun shakes his head. So Jongin pulls him into another hug. “If it helps, I don’t feel better either.”

 

**Edinburgh, 6:38**

Minseok’s eyes blink open all of a sudden. His body is tense, as if he’s waiting to be attacked. Nothing comes though. As his mind wakes up, he relaxes. He can hear the snoring of the other boys around him. With the least amount of movement as possible, he sits up. To his left, Junmyeon is curled into the fetal position. To his right, Chanyeol’s right arm and leg are stretched towards the balcony, his left pressed against Minseok’s leg.

Junmyeon jerks upright as Minseok starts to stand. His hand goes around Minseok’s ankle and both of them are suddenly ready to strike. Junmyeon slumps down with bleary eyes. “Sorry, hyung.”

Minseok waits until Junmyeon releases him. “It’s fine.” He has to tread on his toes to avoid stepping on anyone’s limbs. It’s the most peaceful he’s seen any of them sleep. On the couch, Baekhyun is sitting upright, Kyungsoo’s head in his lap. Jongdae is right in front of the couch, his back pressed against the leather as if to protect himself from attack. Yixing is in the center on his back, looking as if he’s meditating. Sehun and Jongin are still in the kitchen, leaning against each other, arms intertwined.

In the bathroom, Minseok shuts the door and presses his back against it for a second. It only takes another second for all the bile he’s been fighting to keep down to push him towards the toilet. He’s on his knees, hurling whatever was left in his stomach out.

Another wave passes over him and he waits until he’s sputtering. With a sigh and a few escaped tears, Minseok sits back on his heels and closes his eyes. The smell isn’t as bad as the one that lingers after his one-night stands upchuck. But the feeling is likely the same.

There’s a knock on the door.

“Min hyung, you okay?”

“Y-yeah, Jun. I’m fine.”

“Maybe have something to drink before the kids worry about you.”

Minseok smirks. He flushes the toilet and opens the door. “They’re not going to be happy about you calling them kids.”

Junmyeon lifts a wallet in the air. “Sehun’s not going to be happy that I stole his wallet either. Let’s go get breakfast.”

Minseok splashes water on his face first. In the mirror, a paler, slimmer version of himself stares back.

“I know, you look awful,” Junmyeon says. His reflection smiles back at him.

Minseok rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Jun. Really helps.”

“I know it does.”

The two of them find the key to Sehun’s apartment on the kitchen counter. It seems that Junmyeon placed a blanket over the two boys. Out in the hallway, the noises of people waking up and getting ready for work soothe Minseok. The smell of coffee wafts through the hallway and he swears he hears music from the floor above.

“Makes you realize how quiet the Facility was, doesn’t it?” Junmyeon asks, following Minseok’s gaze.

“It’s nice to be surrounded by other people. You know, ones who aren’t running a million tests on you.”

Junmyeon leads the way to the stairwell, forgoing the elevator. He seems to have so much pent up energy he can’t get rid of. It took him ages to fall asleep last night, only doing so once Sehun and Jongin’s voices had fallen to nothing.

“You know, I really appreciate you being on the other end of the phone all the time,” Junmyeon says as they wind down the last stairwell to the lobby.

Minseok looks over at him as if the idea of him not being there is incredulous.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“You’re my best friend, of course I had to do it. I don’t know if your memory has caught up with everything, but we went in there together that first day.”

Junmyeon tilts his head. He knows that Minseok means a lot to him, but there is still a blank at the beginning.

“We saw the ad in the café we always went to and you thought it would be cool. I told you it was a stupid idea, but you convinced me like you always do.”

“So it was my idea to go in there?”

Minseok knew that he would blame himself for what happened if he told Junmyeon the truth. He had the same tone that Kyungsoo had every time he talked to each of them. Minseok isn’t sure how to help Kyungsoo, but with Junmyeon, at least he knows what to say.

“You didn’t know what we were walking into. The ad seemed harmless and like a joke. They were looking for healthy people who wanted to try out some new science research on human test subjects who were willing. It had to do with superpowers and stuff. I can’t remember it word for word. But between that and you, I was convinced. I figured it was safe. You’re good at talking, but I’m the walking conscience.” Minseok smiles sadly at him. “Both of us were wrong that day, but we didn’t know that until after all the testing.”

Minseok runs a hand through his hair, pulling Sehun’s sweater tighter around his body. He can feel the seams in the back pull even though the armholes dangle over his hands.

“Do you think you’ll ever use it again?”

Minseok glances at his hands, which poke out if he rolls the sleeves of the sweater twice. “In times of danger maybe, but not just for fun anymore. Not after that.”

“Not after seeing Han?”

“Definitely not after seeing him and Yifan.”

“Do you think those numbers actually meant anything?”

“No, because you were 1 and I was 99. We went in at the same time.”

Junmyeon recognizes the inflections in Minseok’s voice now, having listened to it over the phone. “But…”

“But I do think that Yifan was the first one they tested on. Then they tried Han. Then in our batch, Zitao was the most promising.”

“They were particularly attentive to Jongin this last round,” Junmyeon comments.

“He has the most interesting power to play with.”

“Do you think it’ll…?”

Minseok shakes his head. “I don’t think Jongin’s insane. And I think without the Facility prodding at him to try more difficult things, he’ll be okay.”

“Did you hear him and Sehun talking?”

They turn into the first café they pass. Minseok glances up at the menu and orders in perfect English. When he looks over Junmyeon, the other hesitates. So Minseok completes the order, ordering enough for the nine of them.

The young woman on the other side asks, “ _Would you like any of the scones? They’re fresh this morning._ ”

Minseok smiles at her. “ _Sure, that would be great._ ”

“ _Where are you from?_ ”

“ _Berlin_ ,” he answers. He reaches for the wallet in Junmyeon’s hand. “ _I am touring Europe and thought to visit my brother who lives here._ ”

She smiles at him. “ _Awe, that’s nice. Well you have a great day. Have a safe trip back to Berlin._ ”

Minseok bows his head and Junmyeon notices the redness in the girl’s cheeks as they move to the other side of the counter. “Still flirting with all the ladies.”

Minseok frowns as he pushes the wallet into Junmyeon’s hands. “What do you mean?”

“You were very blatantly flirting with her.”

“Well, it’s nice to remember that not all women are about to prod me with needles.”

“You should settle, Min.”

“Uh huh and have the same thing happen to me that happened to Yeol? I’d really rather not.”

Junmyeon rolls his eyes. “I thought we agreed that we were all safe.”

“Safe is a very loose term right now,” Minseok says. “I’m not even sure I know what it means anymore.”


	26. Edinburgh, 10:33

**Edinburgh, 10:33**

“We can take this flight,” Jongdae says.

“Guys, business class,” Junmyeon sighs. “We are not taking a cheap economy flight.”

“Some of us can’t afford that, hyung,” Jongdae argues.

“None of us are about to pay more than £1000 for a flight,” Baekhyun says, peering over Jongdae’s shoulder.

Sehun and Chanyeol are sleeping on the floor, Jongin lazily petting the both of them so they don’t panic. “I don’t even know if I _have_ any money,” Jongin says.

“I will pay for all of you,” Junmyeon answers. “I told you all I would pay for your flights home already.”

“Jun, you can’t do that,” Minseok says.

“Do you guys even have access to those accounts? The money we were getting before was coming from the people who were funding that project we’re part of.”

“So?”

“So, we didn’t exactly get rid of everyone when we burnt down the Facility. People can still track us.”

“They are probably going to be waiting at our doorsteps if they want us that badly,” Yixing muses. He’s stretching in the center of the room and no one wants to stop him. It’s weird, but at least it’s weird in a way they can handle.

“I feel more comfortable paying for you guys to go home.”

“How? You don’t even have your cards,” Kyungsoo says, a scone in his hand. He tosses the other one at Baekhyun before collapsing next to Jongdae on the floor.

“Lucky for us our memories are returning and I remember the numbers for the cards. So let me just pay for our flights home, okay? We’ve had a rough four years and an even more painful month. Let’s just ride home in the nicest way if Jongin doesn’t want to teleport us home.”

“If he wants to pay so badly, let him,” Minseok sighs. “He won’t shut up if we fly economy. He doesn’t know how.”

“How to fly economy?” Jongdae demands.

Junmyeon shrugs as he dips his scone in his tea. “Yes. I’ve never flown economy before and I have no intention to start now.”

So Jongdae starts booking flights, muttering, “That must be nice.”

Chanyeol begins flaying his arms around, grasping for something he can’t get. Jongin lightly smacks Chanyeol’s cheeks until he wakes up. Bleary-eyed, the taller boy forces himself upright. He leans into Jongin as he rubs his eyes. “What’s going on?”

“You’re having nightmares again,” Jongin mutters. The other boys pretend as if they hadn’t noticed.

Chanyeol ruffles his hair in frustration.

Jongin nods and pats Chanyeol’s knee. “What are you dreaming about?”

“Nayeon,” Chanyeol says. His body goes rigid at the name. He hates that he’s left her alone in that Russian city with people she doesn’t know. He already feels guilty about having left her alone in the Facility. With all the things he knows now, he hates how much time he wasted. He realizes all the questions she asked him were personal, nothing about how his brain was. And he believes that she was trying to get him to remember her. Nayeon wanted recognition and the love he feels for her to cross his features, to make it worth it. And he would never get to say it to her again.

Kyungsoo gets up from his spot on the floor and proceeds to the bathroom. The others try to create enough noise so that Kyungsoo’s retching can’t be heard, but they still hear it.

Baekhyun glances around the room and Chanyeol’s face takes on a guiltier look. A lot of things have set Kyungsoo off in the past couple hours. He’s been to the bathroom three times now; they’re worried he doesn’t have anything left in his stomach.

“Take him for a walk, Baek,” Minseok suggests. “I think he needs air.”

“And a hug,” Jongdae adds as he passes the laptop to Junmyeon to put in his credit card information.

“Or maybe a shag,” Sehun mumbles in his sleep.

Baekhyun stands up then, chucking a pillow at Sehun’s face. The others look as if they’re trying not to smile, but they watch Baekhyun wander towards the bathroom door. There’s a knock, a bit of whispering, and then the front door closes.

They stay quiet for a few more seconds. When they don’t return right away, Jongdae says, “I don’t know if it’s just in my memory, but I swear the two of them used to be at each other’s throats all the time.”

“More like Baekhyun pissed Kyungsoo off all the time that Kyungsoo gave him a few broken bones which wound up the nurses having to separate the two of them,” Minseok chuckles. “Unless things changed the times afterwards, that’s how I remember them.”

Glad to have something else to talk about, the boys discuss their memories of Baekhyun and Kyungsoo. They’re particularly interested into how things developed.

“I know Baek was always interested,” Chanyeol offers. “When we had to share rooms,” he pauses to think about the memory some more, “he would talk about Soo all the time.”

Junmyeon passes the laptop back to Jongdae to finish confirmations as he says, “The few times I had to share a room with Baekhyun, I tried to tell him that maybe being annoying wouldn’t get Kyungsoo to like him.”

“I’m surprised Soo hyung even does,” Jongin chuckles. Sehun is hugging the pillow that Baekhyun threw at him. Jongin is pretty sure he’s awake, but he doesn’t stop brushing his hands through the other’s hair. “They don’t seem the same at all.”

“I think Soo likes Baek’s outlook on life,” Yixing reasons. Everyone quiets as Yixing speaks. He comes out from his headstand and lands on his knees without a sound. “There is adoration in Kyungsoo’s eyes whenever Baekhyun is talking. And Baekhyun is usually very positive. Kyungsoo blames himself for what happened so hearing Baekhyun saying the contrary must be uplifting.”

Sehun reaches a hand out for Yixing to high five at his perfectly executed paragraph. “I can see that. Opposites attract.”

Minseok motions towards Yixing to show him how to do that headstand. The two attempt it a few times before Jongdae says, “You know, the idea of having powers was interesting. The fact that they had the science to do it really intrigued me.”

“Is that why you went?” Chanyeol asks.

Jongdae nods. “I think so. The science was so advanced, how could I not be a part of it? Now I don’t know if I want to be a part of science anymore.”

“Dae, there are so many other things we could be doing with science than making humanized weapons of destruction,” Junmyeon reassures him. “Cures for cancer and HIV, those starships from Star Trek, healthy food that actually tastes good, reducing global warming. There are hundreds of things you could monopolize in science that don’t involve human weapons.”

“What are we going to do about _that_?” Yixing asks, his face a light pink. Minseok’s able to hold himself up, but his face is redder than Yixing’s in comparison. “Are we going to let them have it?”

“What else can we do? We don’t even know where they went,” Chanyeol says.

“No revenge,” Sehun says to Chanyeol. He lifts his head. His chin rests on Jongin’s thigh so he can look at Chanyeol. “Revenge isn’t going to bring her back.”

Chanyeol holds his gaze, but doesn’t answer.

“If we were going to go after them, we would go to get rid of the research on us. To get rid of all the information they collected on us, so they would have to start over or give up,” Sehun states.

“There will be other people willing to do exactly what we did,” Jongdae tells them. He shrugs at their skeptical looks. “What were the odds that nine people would sign up that time? What were the odds that Luhan, Yifan, and Zitao would go in and never come out? They’ll just start over with whatever they’re doing.”

“Guys, we just got out,” Jongin whines. “Can we just _not_ think about going back and putting ourselves in danger again?”

“What would you rather talk about, Jonginie?” Junmyeon asks.

“What are you guys planning on doing when you get home?”

 

**Edinburgh, 10:54**

Baekhyun’s knack for finding good walking routes apparently translates to other countries. He manages to lead Kyungsoo towards the water. They walk side by side in silence until Baekhyun can’t stand Kyungsoo’s guilty face and begins blathering on about nothing.

“You know, I’m pretty sure Dae told me this fact about Scotland one time.”

“That’s the vaguest statement you’ve ever said to me,” Kyungsoo mutters.

Baekhyun glances over at him, a smile on his face. “Don’t you want to hear it though?” He doesn’t wait for a response. “Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland.”

Kyungsoo’s brow furrows. “That’s such a pointless fact. Dae didn’t tell you that.”

“Okay, so I made it up.”

“Do you even know where Glasgow is?”

Baekhyun glances around and points up ahead. “Somewhere in that general direction.”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as they continue along. “Probably not.”

They move towards the railing, the Water of Leith rushing down below. Across the water, people walk along on their lunch breaks. They’re dressed in various levels of fancy. Students in uniforms hurry past, probably trying to get food before their classes start again. Business people heading for business lunches are on their phones, letting their appointment know they’ll be there in a few minutes.

For a while, Baekhyun points out different people. He makes up background stories for each of them.

“Oh, I’m sure that teenager is talking to her friends about this boy she likes.” Baekhyun watches as the girl’s arms continue to flail around as she speaks. “And the boy refuses to notice her, but she’s trying so hard.”

His attention shifts to a couple, who are passing behind them. “And those people are having a fight.”

“In public?” Kyungsoo asks, eyebrows lifted.

“Yes. Look at how red his face is. He’s probably trying to convince her that he isn’t cheating on her, that the underwear she found under the bed was supposed to be a gift.”

Baekhyun continues speaking just to keep the silence away and Kyungsoo’s mind occupied. When the other lets a small smile appear, Baekhyun can’t help but smile too as he creates lives for the people around them.

Eventually, his chatter dies down to nothing as people return to work and the kids hurry back to catch the bell. The smile on Kyungsoo’s face fades away as if it hadn’t been there.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself for everything, Soo,” Baekhyun finally says. He wasn’t sure how to build up to it and Kyungsoo’s a pretty blunt person anyway.

“I can and I will,” Kyungsoo mutters. He stares down at the water, watching for fish but not seeing any. “There are so many things I could’ve done differently. Nayeon could have lived; your nurse could have lived. I don’t even know what happened to that girl guard that had a crush on Jongin.”

“Do you think they kept her? They can’t possibly know that she gave us that information, could they?”

“Why not?” Kyungsoo counters. “We start making a ruckus after she has a close encounter with Jongin? That’s too much of a coincidence.”

“Honestly, Soo, you always look too much into things. We’re out and we’re okay. Isn’t that what matters?”

“What about what we had to lose along the way?” Kyungsoo mutters. “I know I didn’t explain it very well before, but being able to see you guys living your lives but not really living was the most painful thing to watch.”

“And knowing you, Soo, you just stopped living.” Baekhyun bumps him with his hip. “Now you can finally start again.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“What were you doing before?”

Kyungsoo shrugs.

A small smile grows on Baekhyun’s face. “Come on, tell me. What was Do Kyungsoo doing before he got wrapped up in the worst science experiment ever?”

“High school. I was in high school,” Kyungsoo mutters. “Just graduating anyway.”

The tone in Kyungsoo’s voice piques Baekhyun’s curiosity. And anything that involves Kyungsoo and his curiosity will always get the better of him. Even when the expression on Kyungsoo’s face says that he would rather do anything else but talk about high school. “Why do you sound like high school was the end of the world?” Baekhyun asks.

High school Kyungsoo was a different person. High school Kyungsoo had spent almost all of his life hiding, because he was always being picked on. High school Kyungsoo spent almost every night crying himself to sleep.

“You were bullied in school?” The wonderment in Baekhyun’s face doesn’t make Kyungsoo feel any better. He’s actually just more tempted to throw himself into the river. “Is that why you signed up?”

“They asked you to describe your personality when we went in the first time. I think they chose our powers based on what we said. I said I didn’t have one. That I wasn’t even sure who I was anymore.”

“Kyungsoo…”

“They picked on me because I was small. I was smaller than average, sure. I also wasn’t filled out the same way everyone else seemed to have done throughout high school.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I wasn’t as broad as everyone else. I was always just half the size of my classmates in width and height. And it didn’t matter how smart I was or what extracurriculars I did, I wasn’t rich or good looking, so they poked fun where they knew it hurt.”

“You’re not good looking?” Baekhyun demands. “Who told you that? Who do I have to drag to an eye doctor?”

Kyungsoo looks at Baekhyun with the saddest doe eyes. All Baekhyun wants to do is pull him into a hug, but he isn’t sure how comfortable Kyungsoo will be with that. He isn’t sure how high the walls are around Kyungsoo. He’ll hold his hand, sleep in his lap, but everything has to be initiated by Kyungsoo. It’s been over a day since he took any memory repressing drugs and he’s almost embarrassed at his failed attempts at trying to get Kyungsoo’s attention for years.

Maybe his changed approach has helped. Or maybe the other is just too broken to care anymore.

“Maybe things are different because you never saw me before all of the genetic engineering,” Kyungsoo says.

“How different could you look? You’re still Kyungsoo. You’d still be cute. Maybe your hair wouldn’t be as cool, but you’d still have all the heart.”

“I told you that high school stole me of whoever I was supposed to be. The person in front of you now has been created by those terrible experiences.”

“If that were true, Soo, you would be a terrible person. Which you’re not. You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

Kyungsoo snorts, hating this conversation. “Why? Because I can keep us alive in a hell hole?”

“Because you don’t cave under pressure. Because every time something came up, you had a plan. And if you didn’t, you came up with one. And yes, also because you could keep us alive in that hell hole.”

Kyungsoo pushes away from the railing and starts walking back the way they came. Baekhyun chases after him, falling into step beside him. He takes a chance looping his arm through Kyungsoo’s, and luckily, he doesn’t fight him off.

“That whole experience was hell, and most likely worse for you, because you could remember it all and kept going back. But we were there with you every time. That had to count for something.”

The smallest of nods, but Baekhyun will take what he can get.

Kyungsoo refuses to tell Baekhyun, as the blond haired man runs through the mostly empty streets in a snake pattern, that seeing him in that door made the entire experience worth it. Because even if it was hell in the Facility, he got to see Baekhyun’s face there.

 

**Seoul, A year later**

Sehun, in his third year of university, gets up shakily from his seat in the cafeteria. Someone has just pointed and laughed a very familiar looking poster on the bulletin board. It’s surprising that he can even get his legs to work to get a closer look. He rips it off the board and takes it with him into the hallway. He winds through to the psychology wing of the school on the third floor where there are less people. Then he calls.

“Sehunnie?”

“J-Jongin.”

Immediately, worry fills Jongin’s voice. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? What’s going on?”

In a second, Jongin appears in the space beside him. He only ever does this trick for Sehun, refusing to use it for any other reason. Sehun shoves the poster into Jongin’s chest. With a furrowed brow, it only takes a heartbeat for Jongin to understand what’s going on.

“I know you had class today and that’s why you were gonna be late for the dinner, but we’re going now.”

Jongin grabs Sehun’s wrist and pulls him through to the step just in front of Chanyeol’s apartment. They meet once a month, sometimes with Yixing depending on if he’s in town or not. He comes in when he can, flying in business class courtesy of Junmyeon.

The two boys press the buzzer of Chanyeol’s flat. There is bustling in the background as Chanyeol lets them in.

Jongin drags Sehun up the stairs and the two of them practically bust Chanyeol’s door down.

“Where’s the fire?” Chanyeol jokes. Sehun encouraged them to make jokes about their situation, because it made it seem less terrifying. It was easier to accept that it was real if they could laugh at the situation. This meant that Chanyeol made a lot of fire jokes.

The others are in the kitchen and are on their feet. Sehun collapses into a chair as Jongin slams the poster down on the table.

“No,” Minseok grumbles.

Junmyeon has to turn away from the table. Jongdae’s head is spinning and he sits in the chair across from Sehun. A worry line creases in between Yixing’s eyes, his arms crossed over his chest.

Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are the last to join them in the kitchen. Baekhyun is about to tug Kyungsoo further into the room, but stops when he sees the recognizable poster. He blocks Kyungsoo’s view.

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asks. The joking atmosphere has frozen, which doesn’t tend to happen when Sehun and Jongin join them. He gauges all their expressions. He has to yank his hand out of Baekhyun’s and move to Jongin’s side.

“They’re doing it again,” Jongin tells him.

“The fact that they’re advertising it,” Jongdae starts, “means they’ve done it without us.”

“Or they are starting over,” Yixing says.

“We can’t let them take another 9 innocent people,” Chanyeol says. “We can’t let other people go through what we went through.”

“What are we going to do then?” Baekhyun asks. Jongin’s phone starts ringing and he steps out of the room as his friends discuss what they want to do.

“Chae,” Jongin says down the line.

“Jongin,” Chaerin breathes, “they asked me to go back.”

“We just saw the poster.”

“God, Jongin, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re not going back, are you?”

“Where else am I supposed to go, Jongin? I tried to hide. I tried to be with you. I can’t win here.”

“What do you mean you tried to be with me? We’re still together now.”

“I’m not going back in there and still attach myself to you. Jongin, if things go wrong in there, that’s not fair.”

Jongin paces the room. “If things go wrong in there, I’ll never know. They’ll cover it up. No one even knows that Nayeon noona passed away. She has no family and neither do you.”

“I have you guys,” she mutters.

“Exactly. So you’re not breaking up with me because you’re going back in there. Even though I don’t understand why the hell you’re going back in there.”

“After knowing what happened to you, Ni, how could I not go back? How could I let a bunch of kids sign their life away and not have someone there to protect them?”

Jongin runs a hand over his face after hanging up with Chaerin and heads back into the kitchen. “We have to end it.”

Junmyeon glances over at him. “Good, glad we’re all on the same page.”

On the back of the poster, with the food Chanyeol and Kyungsoo had cooked around them, they have a layout of the floor they were brought to the very first day.

“We need you to tell us what you remember,” Minseok says. He glances up at Kyungsoo, whose hand is held tightly by Baekhyun. He keeps chewing on his bottom lip, but they already gave everyone the option to back out and no one did.

“We have a month,” Kyungsoo mutters. “After a month, they started the testing.”

“We have a month to come up with a game plan and we’ve made one with less than that,” Baekhyun says encouragingly. “We’re not letting this happen again.”

Sehun scoots over to make room for Jongin. “They made us, so we’ll break them,” Jongin says.

“Is that gonna be our catch phrase?” Chanyeol asks.

“All superheroes need one,” Jongdae agrees.

“I refuse to wear a costume,” Kyungsoo grumbles.

Baekhyun wraps his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist and buries his face in his neck. “Good. We’d all look atrocious in one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooow! We're at the end! Thank you for sticking through it with me. :D I can't believe this story is finally all out into the ether of the internet. Let me know what you guys thought of the story overall, the ending, the characters. I want to know~   
> xx


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